Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has agreed to testify in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, which is holding a hearing Wednesday on why the city has not responded to requests by George Washington University to clear an anti-Israel tent encampment.
Initially, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the committee, told Newsmax on Monday that he recently talked to Bowser, a Democrat, but she had not indicated whether she would testify. He said he expected her to testify but if she didn't, the committee would be compelled to subpoena her.
But officials from the Oversight Committee, which has legislative authority over the District of Columbia, and the mayor's office confirmed to the Washington Examiner and other media outlets that Bowser and D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith will testify.
The tent encampment at the university is part of several protests regarding Israel's war against Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip that have rocked college campuses nationwide, leading to thousands of arrests.
University President Ellen Granberg said in a statement Sunday that the protest, now in its 13th day, "has grown into what can only be classified as an illegal and potentially dangerous occupation of GW property." She said, "It is clear that this is no longer a GW student demonstration" and that it has been "co-opted by individuals who are largely unaffiliated with our community and do not have our community's best interest in mind."
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Smith said last week D.C. police were not intervening because there had been "no violent behavior, no confrontations. We allow people the opportunity to have freedom of speech, and that's what we're seeing right now."
But in her statement Sunday, Granberg said "as a university, we are not equipped to single-handedly manage an unprecedented situation such as this."
Comer told Newsmax on Tuesday night that he took members of the Oversight Committee last week to visit the GW campus and speak to Granberg and faculty.
"They made it very clear they have requested help from the Metro Police Department," Comer told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "They've made it very clear these protesters are trespassing, and they are intimidating Jewish students. This has been going on two weeks, and the mayor and police chief of Washington, D.C., are refusing to go in and remove these trespassers who are intimidating Jewish students from the George Washington University campus.
"We're bringing in the mayor and the police chief, and we're going to let them explain why they're refusing to do their job. It should be a good hearing."