Moderate Dems May Break With Pelosi And Vote To Censure Maxine Waters: Report
“Some Democrats conceded privately they are not pleased with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) saying that Waters shouldn’t apologize,” Fox News’ Chad Pergram reported. “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.”
The GOP is way ahead of them and is already planning to run ads against moderate Dems tying them to Waters’ comments like they did to great success with the defund the police debacle.
According to Politico, “the NRCC is already planning to use this vote to tie moderate Democrats to Waters, according to spokesman MICHAEL MCADAMS. “If they hold together then they’re going to own what Maxine Waters is saying,” McCarthy said on Fox News on Monday night. The committee is also tweeting about this.”
That is why Fox is reporting some moderate Dems may break with Pelosi and join the GOP in censuring Maxine Waters.
“One knowledgeable Democrat told Fox that some Democratic members are so angry at Waters now that they would relish the opportunity to censure her,” Pergram reported. “So, McCarthy’s censure resolution may actually have legs.”
In a statement on Monday, McCarthy announced that he would seek to censure Waters:
“We’ve heard this type of violent rhetoric from Waters before, and the United States Congress must clearly and without reservation reprimand this behavior before more people get hurt. But Speaker Pelosi is ignoring Waters’ behavior.
“That’s why I am introducing a resolution to censure Rep. Waters for these dangerous comments, and I hope that all my colleagues – both Republican and Democrat – will stand up for peace on America’s streets.”
“And it is so pervasive that it is I just don’t know how this jury it can really be said to be that they are free from the taint of this,” Derek Chauvin’s lawyer said asking for a mistrial. “And now that we have U.S. representatives, threatening acts of violence in relation to the specific case, it’s mind-boggling to me, judge.”
“Well, I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trail being overturned,” Judge Cahill said.
From Fox News:
“Censure” is a severe, formal rebuke by the House. The full House must vote to censure a member. It requires a simple majority vote. The censured member appears in the well of the House with the Speaker presiding, officially chastising the offending member.
The House has only censured 23 members in its history. The last was former Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) in 2010 for a host of transgressions, ranging from tax evasion to misusing official House resources.
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.
With such a narrow majority, Democrats can only lose two votes on their side. Fox is told that some Democrats could in fact support what one lawmaker termed a “reasonably worded” censure resolution to rebuke Waters. Plus, voting to punish Waters may well be good politics for some battleground district Democrats.
Some House Democrats have problem with Waters after judge calls her out | Fox News https://t.co/JoVY9Wsm7j
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) April 20, 2021