House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) is urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take action against Representative Maxine Water (D., Calif.), whom he has accused of “inciting violence” in Minneapolis with inflammatory rhetoric.
“Maxine Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis — just as she has incited it in the past,” McCarthy said in a tweet. “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
On Saturday, Waters traveled to Brooklyn Center, Minn., to join protests in response to the police shooting of Daunte Wright last week. A local officer fatally shot 20-year-old Wright during a traffic stop. The officer, who officials said intended to discharge a Taser and not a handgun, has resigned and has been charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Speaking just a few miles from where George Floyd died last year after former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes during his arrest, Waters said she was “going to fight with all of the people who stand for justice,” and called on others to join her.
“We’ve got to get justice in this country, and we cannot allow these killings to continue,” she said.
Reporters asked Waters about the potential verdict in Chauvin’s case, which is expected to be handed down this week.
Waters responded by saying that activists have “got to stay on the street, and we’ve got to get more active” if he is not found 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.”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) said Sunday that she would introduce a resolution to expel Waters from Congress over her remarks.
“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,” Greene said. “This is also an abuse of power.”