(CNN) President Donald Trump vowed Saturday to sign an executive order requiring colleges and universities to "support free speech" in order to be eligible for federal research dollars.

"If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, they've got to allow people like Hayden and many other great young people and old people to speak," Trump said in part of his two-hour long speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

The President did not offer any more details on the order.

Trump was referring to Hayden Williams, a conservative activist who recently made headlines after he was allegedly punched in the face at the University of California Berkeley earlier this week. The President brought Williams out as he made the announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, he took a hard punch in the face for all of us," Trump said.

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