Fox News has reportedly been informed that Democrat Rep. Maxine Water’s “confrontational” comments have angered more than just the Republican Party. Fox News contributor Chad Pergram, a congressional correspondent, reports that multiple House Democrats found Water’s comments extremely disturbing but those feelings reached a boiling point when Hennepin, Minn., County Judge Peter Cahill- who is overseeing the Derek Chauvin murder trial specifically called her comments “disrespectful to the rule of law.”
During closing remarks of the trial, Judge Cahill remarked that Waters might have presented defense counsel for Derek Chauvin “something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.”
Fox News reports:
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was already calling on Democratic leaders to take action to sanction Waters. Fox is told some Democrats are not pleased with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying that Waters shouldn’t apologize and didn’t think Waters’ comments would spur violence.
McCarthy now plans to introduce a resolution to censure Waters. Censure is one of the three formal modes of discipline in the House, wedged between reprimand and expulsion.
A censure resolution is “privileged” in the House of Representatives. That means the House must consider it either right away or within two business days. We believe McCarthy will introduce his resolution mid-week. If the minority party were to draw up a “political” censure, the Democrats may move to “table” the resolution or even move to “refer” it to committee.
It could be argued that an effort to punish a member with something as severe as censure should first be adjudicated by the Ethics Committee. But Fox is told that a lot of Democrats are angry at Waters, are concerned about the optics of potential violence being linked back to her and Democrats generally. Don’t forget how many moderate Democrats were beside themselves following the midterms and the “defund the police” movement.
The decision to censure Water could very well come down to the math as Democrats now only hold a slim two-vote majority in the House. According to Fox News, an unnamed Democrat said “some Democratic members are so angry at Waters now that they would relish the opportunity to censure her.”
