President Trump questions UC Berkeley funding after protest

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Thursday, February 2, 2017
In this Jan. 13, 2017 file photo, President-elect Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York.
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WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump is questioning whether the University of California at Berkeley should be granted federal funding. Trump urges the school to honor free speech.

RELATED: Violent protests erupt in Berkeley canceling Yiannopulos event

Protesters hurled smoke bombs, broke windows and started a bonfire prompting university officials to cancel a talk Wednesday by Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos out of safety concerns.

Trump tweeted Thursday, "If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?"

Berkeley cancelled Yiannopoulos' appearance after a crowd of some 1,500 gathered outside the venue.

The 32-year-old right-wing provocateur is a vocal Trump supporter and a self-proclaimed internet troll whose comments have been criticized as racist, misogynist, anti-Muslim and white supremacist.

PHOTOS: Protests erupt at UC Berkeley Milo Yiannopoulos event

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Broken glass litters the ground of the Martin Luther King Student Union at U.C. Berkeley on Feb. 2, 2017.
Wayne Freedman

VIDEO: Trump supporter pepper sprayed at Milo protest

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