A Republican Congressman on Monday launched a motion to censure California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters and ask for her resignation after she encouraged others to confront Trump administration officials, Fox News informed.
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-AZ, introduced a measure urging the congresswoman to apologize to the White House for “endangering their lives and sowing seeds of discord,” submit a resignation from her position, and release a public statement saying harassment or violence isn’t a form of protest.
The measure comes after Waters encouraged harassment of Trump administration officials over the weekend at a rally in Los Angeles.
“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,” she said, sparking condemnation across the political spectrum. She later told MSNBC that protesters are “going to absolutely harass them.”
The Biggs’ initiative says that Waters’ statements could “directly and unnecessarily lead to public unrest, physical violence, and physical injury” and that members of the administration have already been harassed in public.
The initiative reportedly already gained the support of five members of Congress. Biggs told The Hill that Waters’ comments “do not become somebody who’s in Congress” and that “everybody agrees that it was just highly objectionable what she did.”
“So we just introduced it, we have some co-sponsors, but what she did was to basically incite people to come after and attack members of the President’s cabinet,” he stated. “And also spread that out to more people.”
Waters has since doubled-down on her comments at a rally, insisting that she has not suggested harming people. “Trump is the one who is creating lies,” Waters said in a Monday afternoon news conference. “Trying to have people believe that I talked about harming people. There’s nowhere in my statement, anytime, anyplace that we talked about harm.”
“I have nothing to do with the way people decide to protest. Protest is the democratic way as long as it is peaceful,” Waters added. “I believe in peaceful protest. It is guaranteed to you in a democracy.”
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