United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis will take to the Stanford University campus early this week to meet with their Australian counterparts.
A number of people are expected to protest the visit by the Trump administration officials, including members of Indivisible South Bay, a progressive grassroots citizens group.
Protesters want Pompeo and Mattis to use their authority to influence President Donald Trump in a positive way, especially after the demonstrators say Trump embarrassed the United States in Finland last week when he suggested that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 U.S. election in spite of U.S. intelligence reports to the contrary. Trump later attempted to walk back his comments, saying he agreed with the U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia did try to interfere in the elections.
"Our message is that the Trump administration is taking a sledgehammer to our democracy," Lisa Ferino with Indivisible South Bay said. "We have to do something about it. As citizens, we have to speak out."
Stanford University has set up barricades around the Lou Henry Hoover Building where the meetings will take place.