PBS White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki during a Tuesday press briefing why the White House wasn’t defending Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters from an “onslaught of attacks.”
“I wonder why the White House isn’t also coming to the defense of Rep. Waters given the fact that she is now facing an onslaught of attacks, especially by, I would say, Republicans,” Alcindor asked. “I’m wondering why the White House isn’t saying, ‘we back what she said about being confrontational.’ She was obviously not threatening violence.”
Psaki said that Waters had already clarified what she meant by her comments. (RELATED: REPORT: Democrats Are Angry With Maxine Waters, Some Say They Would ‘Relish The Opportunity To Censure Her’)
“Well, she also clarified her own remarks,” Psaki responded. “And I think that’s the most powerful piece to point to.”
PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor asks Psaki why “the White House isn’t also coming to the defense of Rep. Waters given the fact that she is facing an onslaught of attacks… She was obviously not threatening violence.” pic.twitter.com/AqC4L3tTqE
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 20, 2021
Waters drew rebukes after her comments to Black Lives Matter protesters in Brooklyn Center ahead of the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial.
“We’ve got to stay on the street, and we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational,” Waters said. “We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”
The congresswoman also said she believed that Chauvin was guilty of first-degree murder.
Critics argued that Waters had called for violence, especially given that several days of protests and riots happened in Brooklyn Center after Wright’s death. She faced similar criticism in 2018 for telling a crowd of people that they should make anyone who worked in the Trump administration feel that they were “not welcome” in public.