Powerful companies and groups, including Boeing, the National Association of Realtors, and General Motors, have donated to Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Fell silent after urging protesters in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, to “become more confrontational.” if Derek Chauvin isn’t convicted of George Floyd’s murder.
“We have to stay on the street and we have to get more active, we have to be confrontational. We have to make sure they know we mean it,” Waters said Saturday, adding she was “hopeful” that Chauvin would be convicted of murder.
On Tuesday, the jury found Chauvin guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter
WATERS BRUSH THE JUDGE’S CRITICS OF ‘CONFRONTATIONAL’ COMMENTS
Judge Peter Cahill, who presides over Chauvin’s trial, called Waters’ comments “ disrespectful to the rule of law and the judiciary. ”
Influential companies and groups including the Service Employees International Union, Deloitte, the Credit Union National Association, and BlackRock have donated to Waters in the past. Fox News’ inquiries to the organizations had not been returned at the time of publication.
Representative Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Addresses the media during an ongoing protest at the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, April 17, 2021. (CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP via Getty Images)
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Cahill was asked by Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s attorney, to annul a trial for prosecution misconduct and Waters’ remarks at a protest at the Brooklyn Center on Saturday night.
Nelson told the court that there is a “high probability” that jurors will see Waters’s comments. Cahill declined the request.
“I’ll tell you that on appeal, Congressman Waters may have given you something that could result in this entire process being quashed,” Cahill said.
Cahill called it “disrespectful to the rule of law and the judiciary” that elected officials had to comment on the outcome of the case.
“I find it disgusting that they don’t,” he said. But I don’t think it biased us with additional material that would hurt this jury. They have been told not to watch the news. I trust them to follow those instructions. “
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Waters has a history of in-your-face comments and passionate statements.
In 2018, she called on her supporters to “create a crowd” and to publicly “push back” on members of the Trump administration.
Let’s make sure we show up wherever we need to go. And when you see someone from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gas station, you get out and create a crowd, ”Waters said. And you push them back. And you tell them that they are no longer welcome anywhere. ‘
Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche, Yael Halon, Brie Stimson and Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.