House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy called on Nancy Pelosi to take action against congresswoman and political agitator Maxine Waters for “inciting violence” during remarks she made in Minnesota over the weekend.
McCarthy threatened that if Pelosi does not act, he will.
“Maxine Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis - just as she has incited it in the past. If Speaker Pelosi doesn’t act against this dangerous rhetoric, I will bring action this week,” he said in a tweet.
During a protest in Brooklyn Center, amidst explosive riots following the death of Daunte Wright, Waters encouraged people to “take to the streets” if Derek Chauvin is not found guilty of murder.
Chauvin is the ex-police officer facing several charges in the death of George Floyd.
“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. 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.”
Asked in a follow-up question what protesters should do if Chauvin is not convicted of murder, Waters said, “we’ve got to stay on the street and we’ve got to get more active. We’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure they know we mean business.”
This isn’t the first time agitator Waters has called for violence.
Last January, she admitted in a speech that she threatens Trump supporters “all the time” while defending a comment she made in June that people should confront members of President Trump’s administration.
“I said, if you see them anywhere, if you see them in a restaurant, if you see them in a department store, even at a gasoline station, just tell them, you’re not welcome here or anywhere,” she recalled.
The exact remarks last June went as follows:
“I have no sympathy for these people that are in this administration who know it’s wrong for what they’re doing on so many fronts,” Waters said during Trump’s presidency. “They tend to not want to confront this president or even leave, but they know what they’re doing is wrong. I want to tell you, these members of his cabinet who remain and try to defend him, they won’t be able to go to a restaurant, they won’t be able to stop at a gas station, they’re not going to be able to shop at a department store. The people are going to turn on them. They’re going to protest. They’re going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they’re going to tell the president, ‘No, I can’t hang with you.’ This is wrong. This is unconscionable. We can’t keep doing this to children.”