Hannity raises Maxine Waters’s rhetoric after Annapolis shooting

Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday drew a line between comments made by Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.) and the deadly shooting at a newspaper in Annapolis, Md.

Hannity made the connection on radio’s “The Sean Hannity Show” shortly after hearing the news that a gunman had been involved in multiple fatal shootings at the Capital Gazette.

{mosads}”Oh good grief, so scary,” Hannity said after reading some initial reports about the shooting.

“It’s so sad, that there are so many sick, demented and evil people in this world. It really is sad,” Hannity continued. “You know, imagine you go to work and this is what you’re dealing with today. Some crazy person comes in.” 

“And I’m not turning this into a gun debate, I know that’s where the media will be in 30 seconds from now,” Hannity said. “That’s not it. You know, as I’ve always said, I mean honestly — I’ve been saying now for days that something horrible was going to happen because of the rhetoric,” he said.

Hannity then mentioned Waters, who over the weekend said people should confront Trump administration officials in restaurants, service stations and shopping malls when they see them in public.

“Really Maxine?” he asked. “You want people to create — ‘call your friends, get in their faces,’ and Obama said that, too. ‘Get in their faces, call them out, call your friends, get protesters, follow them into restaurants and shopping malls,’ and wherever else she said.”

During the show, Hannity also spoke with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a top Trump ally, who said he is involved with efforts to convince House leaders to censure Waters over her comments.

Later in the show, Hannity said he did not want to directly link the country’s “incendiary rhetoric” to the shooting. “Things are getting way-way too hot and out of control,” he said. 

Democrats and Republicans both criticized Waters after the frequent Trump critic urged more protests like the one by a Virginia restaurant owner who kicked out White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family.

“I have no sympathy for these people that are in this administration who know it is wrong what they’re doing on so many fronts, but they tend to not want to confront this president,” Waters said at a Los Angeles rally on Saturday.

“For these members of his Cabinet who remain and try to defend him 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. The people are going to turn on them,” she added.