Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has been one of the most controversial lawmakers in Washington, D.C. for decades.
Over the weekend, Waters took things to the next level — and now she’s facing an official House Ethics complaint.
Conservative legal watchdog Judicial Watch announced this week they had filed an “incitement and jury intimidation” complaint against Waters. According to their complaint, the watchdog said Waters called for violence from the mob if the George Floyd murder trial not result in a conviction.
Well, we’ve got to stay on the street and we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational,” Waters told a crowd if former police officer Derek Chauvin was found not guilty. “We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”
One alternate juror to the trial said this week the violence made gave her “mixed feelings” about her role. She said she worried for her safety if people were unhappy with her decision.
“The reason, at that time, was I did not know what the outcome was going to be, so I felt like either way you are going to disappoint one group or the other,” she told local station KARE 11. “I did not want to go through rioting and destruction again, and I was concerned about people coming to my house if they were not happy with the verdict.”
Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton blasted Waters for her actions over the weekend.
“Rep. Maxine Waters not only incited violence, she is also attempting to subvert the legal system by intimidating the jury in the trial of Derek Chauvin,” Fitton said in a statement. “Maxine Waters is a repeat offender and it is urgent that the House Ethics Committee quickly acts to hold her accountable.”
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Judicial Watch’s official complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics chairman read as follows:
Ms. Waters took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, which includes the rights accorded to Officer Chauvin to a fair and impartial trial by a jury of his peers and to due process. Ms. Waters’ inflammatory comments that pressure the jury, while encouraging rioters already engaged in rampant destruction of property and attacks on police officers, to “get more confrontational” are irresponsible and dangerous incitement by a Member of Congress.
House Rule 23, Clause 1, of the Code of Official Conduct of the Rules of the House of Representatives states: “A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall conduct himself at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.”
Ms. Waters’ conduct surely does not reflect creditably on the House. By encouraging violence in response to a “guilty” jury verdict, she seeks to undermine the Constitution’s guarantees and protections, and fosters the breakdown of civil society. Such dangerous and reckless rhetoric demands investigation.
More disturbingly still, this behavior by Rep. Waters represents a pattern of conduct. In June 2018, Ms. Waters exhorted protesters to form “crowds” to “push back” on President Trump’s cabinet members, saying, “If you see anybody from that 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 that they are not welcome, anymore, anywhere.”
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That reprehensible conduct prompted Judicial Watch to file an earlier complaint with OCE, which has been inexcusably ignored.
Rep. Maxine Waters’ comments, in the least, fall under the expansive standard for “incitement” set by the House in its snap impeachment proceedings against President Trump.
Judicial Watch calls upon the Office of Congressional Ethics to launch an investigation into Ms. Waters’ comments immediately.
The Horn editorial team