Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) says people have been sending her office harassing messages and death threats—including at least one “very serious” threat—in the wake of the conservative push back to comments she made earlier this week.
Waters drew scorn from conservatives this week after she encouraged her supporters to continue confronting members of President Donald Trump‘s administration amid its practice of separating undocumented immigrant children from their families.
Several members of Trump’s administration, including White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielson, have been confronted in public in recent weeks.
In response, the president appeared to issue a veiled threat to the California congresswoman on Monday.
“Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party. She has just called for harm to supporters, of which there are many, of the Make America Great Again movement. Be careful what you wish for Max!” Trump wrote.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party. She has just called for harm to supporters, of which there are many, of the Make America Great Again movement. Be careful what you wish for Max!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2018
High profile right-wing personalities and people on social media have also been calling for Waters to be arrested for inciting violence with her speech earlier in the week.
In the aftermath of shooting at the Capital Gazette, in Annapolis, Sean Hannity immediately blamed Waters for it.
Sean Hannity has already blamed Maxine Waters for the shooting in Maryland:
— Media Matters (@mmfa) June 28, 2018
“I’ve been saying now for days that something horrible was going to happen because of the rhetoric. Really Maxine?” https://t.co/CCnfuLQgdD pic.twitter.com/BByPuFGFfo
All of this seems to have led people to begin threatening Waters, she told CNN.
The congresswoman said she canceled appearances in Alabama and Texas that were scheduled for this weekend because of threats her office has received.
One threat in particular, she told CNN, was “very serious” and was made by someone in Texas, prompting the cancellation of the scheduled event.
She told the news outlet in a statement:
“As the President has continued to lie and falsely claim that I encouraged people to assault his supporters, while also offering a veiled threat that I should ‘be careful’, even more individuals are leaving (threatening) messages and sending hostile mail to my office. There was one very serious death threat made against me on Monday from an individual in Texas which is why my planned speaking engagements in Texas and Alabama were cancelled (sic) this weekend. This is just one in several very serious threats the United States Capitol Police are investigating in which individuals threatened to shoot, lynch, or cause me serious bodily harm.”
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