James tonight police clash with demonstrators in portland and washington, d. C. Cbs evening news starts now. Good evening. Im james brown in for norah. And we begin tonight with President Bidens sharp criticism today of the violence that has broken out at protests on Americas College campuses over the israelhamas war. In recent weeks, nearly 2,000 people have been detained or arrested at dozens of schools. There were more protests today at Portland State, George Washington university, the university of pennsylvania, and nyu. Speaking at the white house today, President Biden made his most extensive comments to date on the protests, condemning antisemitic slurs, vandalism, trespassing, and major disruptions to classes and graduations at some universities. New york city mayor eric adams says nearly half of those arrested earlier this week at Columbia University and nearby city college were not students at those schools. Adams claims outside agitators are radicalizing students. Cbss nancy cordes leads off our coverage tonight from the white house. Reporter white house Officials Say it was the sheer number of violent encounters on College Campuses over the past two days that prompted President Biden to speak out. Theres the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos. Reporter his comments came in the wake of nearly 2,000 arrests. More than 30 colleges and universities. The barricade. Reporter just today, protesters were ejected from a library at Portland State university that they had occupied for three days. Inside, police say they found ball bearings, paint balloons, Spray Bottles of ink, and diy armor. Vandalism, trespassing, breakin windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations. None of this is a peaceful protest. Palestine will be free reporter like many protesters, President Biden has expressed concern about the plight of palestinian civilians. More than 34,000 killed, according to the hamasrun health ministry. But when asked today if he would change his policies towards israel, as the protesters have been demanding, biden said simply. No. Reporter the unrest is now threatening to become an election issue. Young people are a key democratic voting bloc. Biden needs to listen to what the students are calling for, which is an end to a genocide funded by the united states. So, first things first, stop funding israel. Reporter in battleground wisconsin, donald trump argued biden should have spoken out sooner. There is a big fever in our country, and hes not talking. Reporter but trump also made this unfounded claim about campus demonstrators. They do come from other countries, and they are paid. Reporter some republicans have urged President Biden to send in the National Guard to quell campus protests, but he said no to that today. Cbs news was first to report that the Biden Administration is now considering bringing some palestinians from wartorn gaza to the u. S. As refugees. J. B. . James nancy, thank you very much. One of the most intense flash points is the campus of ucla. Police broke up an encampment overnight, and bulldozers were brought in today to scoop up trash and tents. Some buildings were covered in graffiti. Cbss Jonathan Vigliotti is there. Reporter Early Morning chaos on the campus of ucla. These are chp riot police. Reporter Hundreds Of Officers in riot gear clashed with protesters. Get back get back reporter with support from multiple agencies, officers moved in, tearing down barricades and dismantling tents. Firing rubber bullets and flashbangs. Cbss carter evans was there as Police Stepped into action. Reporter we are looking at what might be the end of the protests here at this encampment. Police have got the protesters surrounded, pushing them up against a wall there, but they are not giving up. Reporter the propalestinian encampment set up by students one week ago was declared unlawful by the University Tuesday night. This is an attack on democratic rights. This is our radius. Reporter more than 200 people were arrested, arms ziptied behind their backs and led away. We need to resist. We need to keep protesting. And thats the only way change will be made. Reporter new tonight, manhattans District Attorney confirms a Police Officer was who was involved in Clearing Protesters inside Columbia Universitys Hamilton Hall fired his gun. No one was injured. Cbss Lilia Luciano spoke with New York City mayor eric adams earlier this afternoon. We saw a change in Protest Behavior when we saw a destruction of property, taking over buildings. We saw the patterns that these individuals that we identify are used to doing. Reporter mayor adams says outside agitators known to police were arrested alongside the student protesters. There is a difference between the protests that are happening outside the gates and the protests in the encampment. Who of these dangerous people were arrested inside Hamilton Hall . Well, im not sure we are asking the question that if someone is dangerous that uses a hammer to break into a building, destroy property while theyre in that building, burglarizing that building. Burglary is one of our seven major crimes. Reporter back here on the ucla campus, cleanup is underway. An encampment behind me has been cleared out, and tonight, there is an increased Police Presence here on campus, along with calls for the chancellor to step down. Meanwhile, all classes have been moved online for the rest of the week, j. B. James thank you, jonathan. Tonight, mandatory evacuations are in place in areas around houston, texas, as a major river there quickly rises. Nearly 40 Million People are on alert for flash flooding. Thats following days of torrential rains and severe thunderstorms. Cbss Omar Villafranca reports from hardhit Southeast Texas. Reporter parts of livingston, texas, waterlogged after overnight storms soaked the Southeast Texas town. Up to 8 inches of rain fell in some areas this morning, leaving homes and businesses looking like lakefront property. We tried to get to livingston but couldnt. Heavy downpours drenched major highways and slowed traffic during the Morning Commute. We could only get as far as coldspring, 17 miles away. The main road in town is shut down. We found residents taking horses and even pet pigs to drier, higher ground. About an hour and a half ago, it was about waist deep in my backyard. Reporter luckily, vanessa russells home is on stilts, but her confidence is not high after she found out the Lake Livingston dam across the street was opened to relieve the swollen lake, dumping millions of gallons into her neighborhood. Its horrible. Do not move to a flood plain, ever. Oh, no way. Reporter further east in college station, a woman tried to drive through a flooded parking lot. Okay, that got bad very quickly. Reporter she abandoned her car once the water became too deep. She is okay. That is the important part. Her car, maybe not so much. Reporter in northern houston, this neighborhood also washed out. People there walking through water that reached to their knees. Houstons mayor john whitmire. It appears the worst is yet to come. Reporter high water vehicles like this one are the only way to get around certain neighborhoods. Here in san jacinto county, Emergency Crews have already rescued 32 people, and with more rain in the forecast, that number may go up. J. B. . James omar with the tough news. Thank you, omar. Tonight, one of the nations busiest highways is completely shut down in a bustling area of connecticut. A massive fire after a Gasoline Tanker crashed also severely damaged an overpass. No one was seriously hurt, but this could have a huge Economic Impact in the northeast. Cbss tony aiello reports from the scene. Reporter raging flames and black smoke turned Dawn Into Darkness after the multivehicle crash on i95 in norwalk, connecticut, this morning. Fire Officials Say a car swerved in front of a truck, pulling a flatbed trailer, as a fuel tanker approached, loaded with 8500 flammable gallons, all colliding under the fairfield overpass bridge, igniting a massive fire. Ironically, it happened near the headquarters of norwalk fire. The bridge was damaged. The heat from the burning fuel compromised some of the bridge, so that bridge is going to have to come down. Reporter while firefighters used foam to battle the blaze, Officials Say roughly 4,000 gallons of the Gasoline Load have burned or run off. The crash occurred on the southbound lane of i95, a busy stretch of the northsouth interstate, with more than 145,000 vehicles traveling through daily. The Morning Commute turned into a chaotic mess, with thousands of vehicles diverted to local roads around the Accident Scene after state police shut down the highway in both directions. For a lot of truckers, we are on the clock, so we can only work 14 hours and drive 11 hours, so when this impact, it slows down the delivery time for our loads. Reporter they will begin dismantling that firedamaged overpass early friday morning, with an eye on reopening this critical highway for rush hour monday, j. B. James tony aiello, thank you very much. Today was the sixth day of testimony at former president Donald Trumps socalled hush money trial in manhattan. Before the jury heard from a former attorney for Stormy Daniels, there was a hearing on more potential violations of a gag order by the former president. Cbss robert costa is at the courthouse. Reporter former president trump, already fined 9,000 for violating a gag order, could be penalized again, as judge juan merchan this morning considered four additional violations. This judge, who is totally conflicted, has me under an unconstitutional gag order. Reporter prosecutors cited several examples, including this, about future witness michael cohen. He got caught lying in the last trial. Reporter on the stand today, Stormy Daniels former attorney Keith Davidson, who testified how he negotiated a 130,000 payment from cohen to pay Stormy Daniels for her story before the 2016 election. And you had sex with him . Yes. Reporter davidson acknowledged texting with National Enquirer editor dylan howard the night trump won, writing, what have we done . Howard replied, oh, my god. Asked to clarify the text, davidson told the jury there was an understanding that their activities may have assisted trumps campaign. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has denied knowing details about the payment, so today, the prosecution played an Audio Recording for the jury in which cohen tells davidson that trump hates the fact we did it. Davidson testified that was a reference to the payment to daniels. Trumps lawyers, meanwhile, tried to Paint Davidson as a serial extortionist of celebrities, citing alleged deals related to lindsay lohan, charlie sheen, and hulk hogan and that he did the same with trump. They are doing a good job at showing sort of this seedy, dirty underbelly of this world that Keith Davidson peddles in. By all accounts, you know, this is what this man does for a living. Its his breadandbutter. Reporter and today, trump falsely claimed that he is not able to testify due to the gag order. Thats not true. He is able to testify. The gag order just prohibits him from criticizing the jury or the witnesses. J. B. . James robert costa in new york, thank you. Arizonas neartotal Ban On Abortion has been repealed. Governor katie hobbs made that official today, Undoing A Law that dated back to 1864. This summer, a law passed in 2022 will go back into effect. That allows abortions up to the 15th week of pregnancy. Some Abortion Rights advocates want that to be extended to 24 weeks and are collecting signatures to put that on the ballot in november. Here in washington, House Republicans are bracing for another mutiny against their leader from the conferences far right. This time, congresswoman Marjorie Taylor greene is threatening to move ahead with a vote to remove House Speaker mike johnson using the same procedure that ousted Kevin Mccarthy. But this time, johnson has an unlikely ally. In an interview for this sundays 60 minutes, our Norah Odonnell sits down with House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. Norah nine months after getting the job of speaker, republican Kevin Mccarthy of california got dumped by the far right wing of his party. Following three weeks of paralysis, mike johnson of louisiana took his place. I want to thank you all for the trust that you have instilled in me. Norah after he worked with democrats to pass the foreign aid bill that included 61 billion for ukraine, georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor greene, who opposed it, said she will follow through with the threat to oust him. Jeffries told us he works to find Common Ground with the other side of the aisle, and at least one republican who might be happy about that is speaker johnson. Johnson, at some point today. Norah this past week, democrats said they would vote against congresswoman greenes effort to remove him. Has speaker johnson asked for your help . He has not. And our view would traditionally be, let the other side work its own mess out. But when that mess starts to impact the ability to do the job on behalf of the american people, then the responsible thing at that moment might be for us to make clear that we will not allow the extremists to throw the congress and the country into chaos. James you can see norahs conversation with leader Hakeem Jeffries sunday night on 60 minutes. If youre looking to buy a home, your monthly costs just went up again. Well show you why when we come back. Were in my way. I needed more from my antidepressant. Vraylar helped give it a lift. Adding vraylar to an antidepressant is clinically proven to help relieve overall depression symptoms better than an antidepressant alone. And in vraylar clinical studies, most saw no substantial impact on weight. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Report unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. 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