White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden believed “protests should be peaceful” in response to Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, and demands that protesters push their actions if Derek Chauvin is acquitted of murder to death. of George Floyd.
Waters said in controversial comments over the weekend that protesters in Minnesota “need to stay on the streets and become more active and confrontational.” Asked if Biden agreed with this, Psaki did not respond directly, but she made it clear that, although the president is very much in favor of protest marches, he opposes violence.
MAXINE WATERS URGES MINNESOTA ANTI-POLICE CROWD TO ‘STAY ON THE STREET’ IF CHAUVIN IS OBTAINED IN FLOYD
“His view is … that exercising rights for the first amendment and protesting injustice is the most American thing anyone can do,” Psaki said during Monday’s press conference. “But as he always says, protests must be peaceful, that’s what he keeps calling and what he keeps believing is the right way to respond.”
Republicans condemn Waters for her remarks.
MAXINE WATERS MUST BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE, FORMER CONGRESSIONAL OPPONENT TELLS ‘FOX & FRIENDS’
“Telling rioters who burned buildings, looted shops and assaulted journalists to become ‘more confrontational’ is incredibly irresponsible. Every House Democrat should condemn Maxine Waters’ call for violence,” said Mike Berg, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told Fox News.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Even announced a resolution calling for Waters to be expelled from Congress.
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Waters was in Minnesota over the weekend and said she plans to stay on Monday as closing arguments are presented in Chauvin’s trial. She told MSNBC that she was there “to support our young people who are struggling to make this legal system work for everyone” and “to be there like Aunt Maxine to show them, not only do I love them and do not support them, but they can count on me to be with them at this awful time in our whole lives. ‘
Fox News’ Evie Fordham, Yael Halon and Brie Stimson contributed to this report.