Editor’s Note: Read more on the fallout from Maxine Waters’s incitement scandal here.
After crying crocodile tears over a mostly peaceful uprising at the US Capital on Jan. 6, Democrats are scrambling to find excuses for Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who incited violence during comments Saturday in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
.@RepMaxineWaters told BLM terrorists to “stay on the streets” and “get more confrontational.”
BLM terrorists took her orders and took action.
She should be expelled from Congress. https://t.co/vJF9etntnk
— Marjorie Taylor Greene ?? (@mtgreenee) April 18, 2021
While the gathering may have been intended as a vigil for Daunte Wright, who was the victim of an accidental police shooting one week ago, Waters seemed more intent on inserting herself into the ongoing trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
His trial over the May 2020 death of George Floyd is expected to wrap this week.
“We’re looking for a guilty verdict,” Waters said. “And we’re looking to see if all of the talk that took place and has been taking place after they saw what happened to George Floyd, if nothing does not happen, then we know that we’ve got to not only stay in the street, but we’ve got to fight for justice.”
She added, “But I am very hopeful, and I hope we are going to get a verdict that says ‘guilty, guilty, guilty.’ If we don’t, we cannot go away.”
Perhaps her most provocative comment came in response to a reporter’s question. Waters answered, “We’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure they know we mean business.”
Following Waters’s rally, law-enforcement officers maintaining peace in the area were fired on.
In response, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. to take action against Waters, saying he will act if Pelosi does not.
“Maxine Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis, just as she has incited it in the past,” said McCarthy. “If Speaker Pelosi doesn’t act against this dangerous rhetoric, I will bring action this week.”
Pelosi not only led the effort to impeach former president Donald Trump for the claims that he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol siege, but also had freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., stripped of her committee assignments for allegedly making incendiary comments on social media.
However, the Democrat House leader has yet to respond to the comments by Waters.
However, Waters received considerable backlash from conservative leaders.
The Radical Left don’t care if your towns are burning, if there’s violence in your streets, or if the police are too defunded to defend their communities.
As long as the Left appeases their anti-America base, their job is done.https://t.co/bmBJEsrCdn
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) April 18, 2021
Democrats actively encouraging riots & violence.
They want to tear us apart.
“’We gotta stay on the street,’ Waters was recorded saying, adding that protesters needed ‘to get more confrontational’ & they should ignore the curfew in place.” https://t.co/PWW7YNDbKR
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 18, 2021
“Telling rioters who have burned buildings, looted stores, and assaulted journalists to get ‘more confrontational’ is incredibly irresponsible” said Mike Berg, National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman, during a Fox News interview. “Every House Democrat should condemn Maxine Waters’ call for violence.”
The New York Post Editorial Board stated that Waters was “trying to create a Civil War.”
The board urged Pelosi to “strip her of her committee assignments and move for a vote to remove Waters from office.”
Greene has already made plans to file a resolution to remove Waters from office, similar to that which partisan Democrats filed against her earlier this year.
Conservative radio host Todd Starnes, meanwhile, noted that Waters’ attempts to influence the outcome of the Chauvin murder trial should be taken no less lightly than her exhortations of violence.
“Waters should be charged with jury tampering at the least and inciting a riot at the most,” Starnes said in a commentary on his website.
Waters’s past calls to violence—and those of other Democrats—proved to be a strong part of Trump’s successful defense argument during his Senate trial.
She had been condemned but showed no remorse for calling on supporters ahead of the 2018 midterm election to “get in [the] faces” of Republicans.
She recently attacked Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on the floor of the House, telling him to “shut your mouth” for “being a bully” to White House coronavirus czar Anthony Fauci.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
