Trump said he intends to sign executive order requiring 'free speech' at colleges
- President Donald Trump announced an executive order requiring American universities and colleges to maintain "free speech" on campuses.
- Trump was speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference when he brought a conservative activist onstage who was filmed being punched at the University of California Berkeley.
- The White House did not immediately reply to Business Insider's request for comment and clarification.
President Donald Trump said Saturday he would soon sign an executive order requiring American universities and colleges to maintain "free speech" on campuses.
"Today, I am proud to announce that I will be very soon signing an executive order requiring colleges and universities to support free speech if they want federal research funds," Trump said at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
The announcement came after the president invited Hayden Williams, a conservative activist and student at the University of California Berkeley who was filmed being punched on campus, onstage before announcing the executive order.
"If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, they've got to allow people like Hayden and many other great young people and old people to speak," Trump said. "Free speech. If they don't, it will be very costly."
The White House did not immediately reply to Business Insider's request for comment.
Trump previously tweeted about Williams' case, referencing denying federal funds as retribution for schools allowing "violence on innocent people with a different point of view."
(Reuters reporting by Katanga Johnson; editing by Diane Craft)