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Kevin McCarthy threatens action against Maxine Waters for ‘inciting Minnesota riot’ if Nancy Pelosi doesn't

Waters was part of a demonstration in Brooklyn Center Sunday to encourage protesters after police shot dead Daunte Wright and ahead of closing arguments in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd

Prominent Republicans lashed out at Rep. Maxine Waters on Sunday after she told protesters to "stay in the streets" and "get more confrontational" during the weeks-long unrest in Minnesota. The California Democrat was accused of inciting violence in a state that is already on edge amid the Derek Chauvin trial.

Waters was part of a demonstration in Brooklyn Center early Sunday morning, encouraging protesters to make their voices heard after the fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright and ahead of closing arguments in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd, the New York Post reported.

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“We’ve got to stay in the streets, and we’ve got to demand justice,” Waters urged the crowd, breaking a curfew set by police. The protesters had earlier been chanting: “No good cops in a racist system!” “F**k your curfew!” and “No justice, no peace!”

“We’re looking for a guilty verdict” in the Chauvin case, Waters continued. “And if we don’t, we cannot go away, we’ve got to get more confrontational," she added.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) demanded that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) take action against Waters over her remarks, otherwise he will be forced to take action, he said.

“Maxine Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis — just as she has incited it in the past,” McCarthy said in a statement on Sunday. “If Speaker Pelosi doesn’t act against this dangerous rhetoric, I will bring action this week.”

Meanwhile, Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that Waters' remarks had pulled the curtain back on the Democratic Party's overall agenda. “Democrats actively encouraging riots & violence. They want to tear us apart. ‘We gotta stay on the street,’ Waters was recorded saying, adding that protesters needed ‘to get more confrontational’ & they should ignore the curfew in place,” Cruz wrote on Twitter.

Colorado Republican Rep Lauren Boebert asked why Waters had crossed state lines from California to Minnesota "trying to incite a riot." “Why is Maxine Waters traveling to a different state trying to incite a riot? What good can come from this?” she tweeted.

Arizona Republican Rep Andy Biggs said: “The Radical Left don’t care if your towns are burning, if there’s violence in your streets, or if the police are too defunded to defend their communities,” Biggs wrote on Twitter.  “As long as the Left appeases their anti-America base, their job is done.”

Waters, who in 2018 urged her supporters to harass members of the Trump administration in public, appeared Sunday on MSNBC. The 82-year-old politician said she went to Minnesota to show support for the protesters “kind of as Aunty Maxine," adding that she wanted to let them know “they can count on me to be with them at this terrible time in all of our lives.”

“They see their peers being killed. Minneapolis is a great example of what’s wrong with the criminal justice system, what’s wrong with policing. And so those of us who hold significant positions must stand up,” she continued. “We must support them. We must speak out. We must call for justice."

20-year-old Wright was fatally shot during a traffic stop on April 11, 2021, by former Brooklyn Center Officer Kim Potter, who allegedly mistook her service pistol for a Taser. She resigned from the force shortly after and has been charged with manslaughter, according to the New York Post.