It has been more than 13 hours since Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) announced that she was forced to cancel speaking events due to “very serious” lynching threats, and President Donald Trump—who just days ago warned Waters to “be careful what you wish for”—has yet to issue so much as a tweet denouncing the threats against the life of a sitting member of Congress.
“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.”
—Rep. Maxine Waters”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,” Waters said in a statement late Thursday, specifically blaming Trump’s Twitter attack for setting off the wave of threats.
“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 canceled this weekend,” Waters continued. “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.”
Trump’s Twitter threat against Waters came after the congresswoman said during a rally in Los Angeles last weekend that Americans should “push back on” White House officials and tell them “they’re not welcome” whenever they show their faces in public.
Calling Waters “extraordinarily low IQ person” in a tweet on Monday, Trump falsely accused her of calling on Americans to “harm” his supporters.
On Monday, Waters made clear that nothing in her weekend statement should be construed as a call for anything violent.
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