After Republicans made a lengthy effort to censor and expel Maxine Waters from Congress over comments on the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, which the judge said could provide grounds for appeal, the California veteran remained defiant.
“I’m not worried they will continue to distort what I say,” Waters, 82, told Grio. ‘This is who they are and this is how they act. And I’m not going to be bullied by them. ”
Waters, an African-American, has served in Congress since 1991. She has a long record of campaigning for civil rights and confronting political opponents in a blunt term, earning the nickname Kerosene Maxine in some circles.
She has long been a favorite target of Republicans and sparked a focused outcry in 2018 when she said Trump assistants and officials should be confronted by the public. Last week, she told hard-line Republican Congressman Jim Jordan to ‘keep your mouth shut’ during a hearing with White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci.
She spoke to the media on Saturday during a rally in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, where police shot dead a 20-year-old black man, Daunte Wright, earlier this month.
Chauvin, a former police officer, is on trial in the city for murder, after kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes in May last year and allegedly killing him. As the world awaits judgment, there is tension in the city.
Waters said she hopes Chauvin will be found “guilty, guilty, guilty”.
When Chauvin was acquitted, she said, ‘we need to stay on the streets, and we need to become more active. We need to become more confrontational. We need to make sure they know what we mean by business. ”
Republicans were quick to accuse Waters of inciting violence as they said Democrats accused Donald Trump of doing so before the January 6 riot in the Capitol.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy – who voted against accusing Trump of attacking the Capitol, which resulted in five deaths – said on Monday he would pass a resolution criticizing Waters for what he called “dangerous. comments “considered.
“This weekend in Minnesota, Maxine Waters broke the law by breaking the curfew and then inciting violence,” McCarthy tweeted.
In a coordinated attack, Florida Representative María Elvira Salazar said Waters has a long history of inciting unrest and supporting dictators who use force to get what they want. Texas Representative August Pfluger called her rhetoric “outrageous and shameful.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a right-wing Republican and conspiracy theorist in Georgia who has spoken out in favor of the execution of prominent Democrats and FBI agents, said she would try to oust Waters, whom she said was “a danger to our society.” .
Greene claims Waters “incited Black Lives Matter domestic terrorists ”, following a shooting in which two members of the national guard in Minnesota were killed.
The Chauvin trial is at the heart of national dialogue. Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, told NBC on Tuesday that he had received a call from Joe Biden.
The president, he said, ‘just called. He knows what it’s like to lose a family member. And he knows that the process we are going through is just letting us know that he is praying for us and hoping that everything will work out. ‘
Later, in the White House, Biden told reporters: ‘I can only imagine the pressure and anxiety they are experiencing. They are a good family and ask for peace and quiet. ”
The president added: ‘I pray that the verdict is the right one, which I think is overwhelming. I would not say that, otherwise the jury would be sequestered now and not hear me say so. ‘
Waters’ words were raised in the Minneapolis courtroom Monday when defense attorneys protested because of a lawsuit. Judge Peter Cahill denied the motion, but also expressed frustration, saying Waters was ‘disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judiciary’.
Cahill also told the defense: “I will inform you that Congressman Waters may have given you something on appeal that could lead to the entire trial being overturned.”
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended Waters, saying she did not have to apologize.
“Maxine talked about ‘confrontation’ in the way of the civil rights movement,” Pelosi said.