By Thomas McKinless

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Monday deferred to the Justice Department when pressed whether the administration considered the protests at the University of Missouri to be civil rights violations, following a series of protests over racism at the university. “That’s obviously something law enforcement officials will have to consider and the Justice Department will have to consider it on their own, and I wouldn’t want to say anything here that would be seen as in anyway influencing any decisions that they may or may not have to make.”