Maxine Waters Cancels Events Due to 'Very Serious Death Threat'

Dem says she's been hit with intimidating warnings after her remarks on protesting Cabinet members
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 29, 2018 3:11 AM CDT
Maxine Waters Cancels Events Due to 'Very Serious Death Threat'
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., speaks at the 2018 California Democrats State Convention on Feb. 24, 2018, in San Diego.   (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

After Rep. Maxine Waters' speech in which she encouraged citizens to protest President Trump's Cabinet members in public, Trump warned her to be "careful what you wish for"—ominous words with new meaning after Waters says she was forced to cancel two events due to threats lobbed against her. In a statement to CNN, the California Democrat says she nixed appearances in Texas and Alabama this weekend due to "hostile mail" and threatening messages, including "one very serious death threat" out of Texas. It was that last intimidating warning that spurred her cancellations, "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." She noted earlier this week she receives death threats "all the time" and that this has been an uptick.

In response to the president's narrative that she was encouraging violence, Waters pushed back earlier this week, saying Trump was lying. "I believe in peaceful, very peaceful protests," she said Monday. "I have not called for the harm of anybody." That didn't stop Sean Hannity from pointing the finger at Waters on Thursday, blaming her for a gunman opening fire on Maryland's Capital Gazette. "You know, as I've always said, I mean honestly—I've been saying now for days that something horrible's gonna happen because of the rhetoric. Really, Maxine?," the Fox News host said on his radio show shortly after the Annapolis shooting. The Daily Beast notes that at the time, authorities still hadn't released any information about the Annapolis shooter's motives. (More Maxine Waters stories.)

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