GOP leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday introduced a privileged House floor resolution against Rep. Maxine Waters for her controversial comments to protesters in Minnesota over the weekend, urging them to become “more confrontational” if ex-Minneapolis agent Derek Chauvin is found not guilty of George Floyd’s death.
But the Democrats quickly moved to table the resolution in a party-line vote of 216 to 210, and directly avoided a vote on whether or not to formally reprimand the longtime California congressman.
Speaker Pelosi, and every other House Democrat, had the opportunity to condemn the violent rhetoric of our fellow Representative Waters, a chairman and senior member of Congress, to protesters to ‘become more confrontational,’ McCarthy said in a statement after his disapproval. resolution failed. Instead, they whitewashed it. And it makes the House and our justice system worse off. ‘
McCarthy’s two-page resolution, first shared with Fox News, heavily cites Waters’s own April 17 comments to protesters who had gathered outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Minnesota.
Waters said she wanted a “guilty verdict,” and without it, protesters should “stay on the street” and become “more confrontational, we need to make sure they know we mean it.”
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McCarthy’s resolution also uses quotes from the judge in the Chauvin trial admonishing Waters in court.
On Monday, Chauvin’s attorney filed for a void lawsuit in the case, citing Waters’ comments made before the jury was separated.
Minnesota judge Peter Cahill dismissed the request, but chastised Waters’ comments from the bank as “disrespectful to the rule of law.” He said Waters’s comments may have provided a way for Chauvin to appeal and have the trial “ quashed. ”
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The resolution further quoted Cahill speaking of public officials: “I think if they want to express their views, they should do so in a respectful manner, and in a way that is consistent with their oath to the government. I find it disgusting that they don’t do that. “
Republicans argued that Waters should be censored for allegedly inciting violence in a highly charged atmosphere around Minneapolis. The city was on edge during the Chauvin trial and after the murder of Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old black man shot by a police officer on April 11.
“I would like to see Maxine Waters apologize for the inflammatory comments she has made to incite violence,” said Representative Steve Scalise, R-La., On Tuesday in support of the resolution’s censure. “It’s a powder keg down there. The last thing you want is to make it worse. ‘
Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, will chair an increase in current accounts on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, April 20, 2021. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)
But Waters has said she did not promote violence, but rather peacefully confronted the justice system.
“I am nonviolent,” she told theGrio in an interview in defense of her comments.
“I’m talking about the confrontation with the judicial system, the confrontation with the police that is going on, I’m talking about speaking up. I’m talking about legislation,” continued Waters. “I’m talking about elected officials doing whatever it takes to keep their budgets under control and pass legislation.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., And Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., backed Waters and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Delivered a speech in defense of his colleague on Tuesday.
Hoyer convicted Republicans for staging a “gotcha partisan vote” against Waters, while refusing to convict former President Trump and others for inciting a riot in the Capitol on Jan. 6 and taking no action against Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who loved social media. reports advocating violence against Pelosi and Democrats.
“There is no equality,” Hoyer said of Waters and those Republicans. “Chairman Waters’ comments reflect the deep anger and sense of hopelessness she and so many others, including myself, feel when we see African Americans killed during meetings with our law enforcement officers.”
Hoyer urged his colleagues to look up confront in the dictionary. “To confront is to face the facts. To confront is to face the truth,” Hoyer said. “… Confronting is not violence.”
After McCarthy spoke about the resolution on Tuesday afternoon, Hoyer immediately moved on to file the matter. That meant Democrats were not forced to vote directly on whether Waters’ comments merit censure, but rather vote to set the resolution aside altogether.
GOP LEADER MCCARTHY PLANS TO IMPROVE RESOLUTION TO CENSOR WATERS ABOUT ‘DANGEROUS’ RETORY
McCarthy’s resolution did not bring up controversial comments from Waters’s past over the years, but focused on her most recent comments in Minnesota. Censorship is a form of public admonition, but it could have brought Waters an extra penalty.
Rule 25 of the House Democrats rules says that members of Congress censored by a House vote will be stripped of their committee chairmanship. Waters is the chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee.
GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, wrote a censure resolution against Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, for her comments in Minnesota.
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The House has only convicted 23 members in its history. The last was former Rep. Charlie Rangel, DN.Y., in 2010 for a variety of violations ranging from tax evasion to misuse of House official funds.
The censored Member appears in the pit of Parliament under the chairmanship of the speaker and officially punishes the offending Member.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.