Rep. Maxine Waters was in for a rude awakening after the judge in the case of George Floyd’s death called her out, personally, saying that her comments could have influenced the case enough to let the officer-involved get off, according to The Independent Journal Review.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill spoke out about the California Democrat saying that her call for protesters to get “more confrontational” if former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is not found guilty of murdering George Floyd could be grounds for a mistrial.
“I’m aware that Congresswoman Waters was talking specifically about this trial and about the unacceptability of anything less than a murder conviction and talk about being confrontational.”
“I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch and our function,” he continued.
“If they want to give their opinions, they should do so in a manner that is consistent with their oath to the Constitution, to respect the co-equal branch of government. Their failure to do so I think is abhorrent.”
The judge in the controversial case went on to say that Waters’s comments could have so prejudiced the jury that it could allow for Chauven’s attorney to ask for a mistrial and a second case might receive more positive results than the first.
“A congresswoman’s opinion really doesn’t matter a whole lot,” he added. However, he went on to say that “I will give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.”
During an interview just days ago on the police brutality protest taking place in Minnesota Saturday, Waters said that if Chauvin wasn’t found guilty of murder protesters should get “more confrontational” in their in-person, often violent protests against police.
“We’ve got to stay on the street, and we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”
That caused Republicans to speak out, calling for Waters to be in some way punished for what many consider to be a much more aggressive call than any made by Republicans who have been castigated by the House and Senate for their support of protesters in the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riots.
Republicans even went so far as to accuse her of inciting violence and threatening the jury, according to IJR.
However, Waters said, “Republicans will jump on any word, any line and try to make it fit their message and their cause for denouncing us and denying us, basically calling us violent … any time they see an opportunity to seize on a word, so they do it, and they send a message to all of the white supremacists the KKK, the Oath Keepers, the [Proud] Boys and all of that, how this is a time for [Republicans] to raise money on [Democrats] backs.”
When talking about the Republican strategy, Waters said, “This is a time for [Republicans] to keep telling our constituents that [Democrats] are the enemy and they do that time and time again.”
She added, “But that does not deter me from speaking truth to power. I am not intimidated. I am not afraid, and I do what needs to be done.”
The party line was just that, held up by the party, even to their own detriment, as was demonstrated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who told CNN’s Annie Grayer on Monday Waters should “absolutely not” apologize for her remarks.
“Maxine talked about confrontation in the manner of the Civil Rights movement. I myself think we should take our lead from the George Floyd family. They’ve handled this with great dignity and no ambiguity or lack of misinterpretation by the other side,” she said.
