Long-time Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (CA) was widely criticized after she told protesters that they needed to “get more confrontational” if former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had been acquitted of murder in the case of George Floyd’s death.
Now, however, conservative legal group Judicial Watch has made clear that it has more than just harsh words for Waters. On April 20, Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton filed a formal complaint against Waters with the House Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), the group announced in a press release.
Ethics complaint filed
The complaint charges that Waters’ words amounted to a call for violence.
“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,” Fitton wrote.
“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,” he continued.
“A repeat offender”
Fitton went on to note that under the House’s rules, “[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.”
He also observed that this was not the first time that Waters has called for mob action, pointing to an incident three years ago in which she instructed supporters to harass members of the Trump administration.
“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 they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere,” the congresswoman declared in a speech, according to TIME.
“That reprehensible conduct prompted Judicial Watch to file an earlier complaint with OCE, which has been inexcusably ignored,” Fitton recalled in his latest complaint.
Fitton concluded by calling Waters “a repeat offender” and insisting that the House Ethics Committee take action “to hold her accountable.”
“Worse off because of it”
Others to have taken steps to push back against Waters over the remarks on Chauvin’s trial include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who sought to have her censured, a move that was blocked by Democrats, according to Fox News.
“Speaker Pelosi, and every other House Democrat, had the opportunity to condemn the violent rhetoric of our colleague Representative Waters, a chairwoman and senior member of Congress, to protestors to ‘get more confrontational,'” Rep. McCarthy said in a statement following the failed effort, as Fox reported. “Instead, they condoned it. And the House and our justice system are worse off because of it.”
The post Judicial Watch files formal ethics complaint against Rep. Waters first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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