On Sunday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) demanded Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) take action against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) over comments that Waters made to rioters over the weekend, who said that if Derek Chauvin is not convicted of a crime for the killing of George Floyd, then rioters need to “get more confrontational” and “make sure that they know we mean business.”
“Maxine Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis — just as she has incited it in the past,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter. “If Speaker Pelosi doesn’t act against this dangerous rhetoric, I will bring action this week.”
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.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) April 19, 2021
Waters joined rioters on Saturday night in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, where she made the aggressive comments just days before a verdict will be reached in the Derek Chauvin case.
“We’re looking for a guilty verdict. We’re looking for a guilty verdict. And we’re looking to see if all of this [inaudible] that took place and has been taking place after they saw what happened to George Floyd,” Waters said. “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 hopefully and I hope that we’re going to get a verdict that will say guilty, guilty, guilty. And if we don’t, we cannot go away.”
Waters added that if Chauvin was not convicted, then “we’ve got to get more active. [We’ve] got to get more confrontational. [We’ve] got to make sure that they know we mean business.”
This is not the first time Waters has encouraged political aggression. In 2018, she told a crowd of her supporters that “If you see anybody from [Trump’s] cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
“They’re not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they’re not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they’re not going to be able to shop at a department store,” she added. “The people are going to turn on them, they’re going to protest, they’re going to absolutely harass them.”