House

McCarthy accuses Waters of ‘inciting violence in Minneapolis’

by Dominick Mastrangelo - 04/19/21 7:33 AM ET

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is accusing Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) of “inciting violence” with comments in a Minneapolis suburb over the weekend and pressuring Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calf.) to act on them.

“Maxine Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis — just as she has incited it in the past,” McCarthy said in a tweet late Sunday evening. “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 (@GOPLeader) April 19, 2021

Waters made the comments in question while visiting Brooklyn Center — a city that is on edge following the police killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright earlier this month and is located only a few miles from the scene of George Floyd’s death last year.

The congresswoman said she was “going to fight with all of the people who stand for justice” and urged others to do the same, saying, “We’ve got to get justice in this country, and we cannot allow these killings to continue.”

Her remarks came just before closing arguments in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer accused of murdering Floyd. Closing arguments are expected to begin on Monday, and the jury may reach a verdict this week.

When asked by reporters in Brooklyn Center about the potential outcome of Chauvin’s trial, Waters said that activists have “got to stay on the street, and we’ve got to get more active” if he is found not guilty.

“We’ve got to get more confrontational,” Waters said according to Fox News. “We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”

Waters’s comments were circulated widely online by conservatives and critics who said they amounted to an endorsement of widespread looting and vandalism that broke out in several cities across the country during protests last year against police brutality.

Earlier on Sunday, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) said she would introduce a resolution to expel Waters from Congress over her comments.

“As a sitting United States Congresswoman, Rep. Maxine Waters threatened a jury demanding a guilty verdict and threatened violence if Chauvin is found not guilty,” Green said. “This is also an abuse of power.”

Updated at 8:04 a.m.