During an appearance on MSNBC’s The Sunday Show over the weekend, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) condemned Trump allies who might think that they can defy subpoenas from the House committee investigating the Capitol riot and get away with it.
Waters also described Trump himself as “the worst threat to our democracy that I have ever known and perhaps anyone has ever known,” pointing out the serious dangers inherent in his continued promotion of rhetoric such as the lies about the integrity of last year’s election that drove the Capitol violence. Not only that, but Trump has repeatedly come to the defense of the rioters themselves — speaking to journalist Jonathan Karl, he recently justified chants of “Hang Mike Pence!” that were heard at the Capitol, describing them as reasonable in light of concerns about (imaginary) fraud.
Despite the self-confidence from Trump and people in his circles, the Justice Department recently announced that former top Trump adviser Steve Bannon had been indicted on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a riot investigation committee subpoena. Each count carries penalties of at least 30 days in jail, if convicted of the offense. Waters commented as follows:
‘If that’s what they think, that they can defy the law, and they can raise money, and they’re going to be alright, they’ve got another thought coming. This is very serious. And I want you to know our chair, Mr. Thompson, is very serious about this. These subpoenas are being issued — we expect them to honor those subpoenas. If they don’t, we’ll go to court, and Thompson will go to court. And we’re gonna win. And they’re going to have to either comply or go to jail. And that’s where they need to be.’
Notably, Michael Flynn said during an appearance on Fox that he was planning to “respond” to the committee’s demands after he too was subpoenaed. Perhaps the deterrence effect of the criminal charges against Bannon could therefore be said to be working. Waters added the following while on MSNBC:
‘The former president is the worst threat to our democracy that I have ever known and perhaps anyone has ever known. Despite the fact that we’re on different sides of the issues, and the aisle, Democrats versus Republicans, vice versa — we’ve never seen anything like this. This man has no respect for this democracy, and he supports those who basically invaded our Capitol. He supports those who threatened his own vice president, Mr. Pence. And he continues to go along this separation line — he has destroyed patriotism. And those who are in his circle, who are afraid of him, really need to be ashamed of themselves in the way that they are trying to dismiss the law and not be in compliance and continue the “Big Lie.”‘
Waters added that members of Congress are “not going to give up” and are instead “going after them.” As she put it, Americans “deserve to have better than this past president.” Watch Waters’s comments below:
“If that's what they think, that they can defy the law, and they can raise money, and they’re going to be all right, they've got another thought coming. This is very serious,” @RepMaxineWaters says about Trump allies defying congressional subpoenas. #SundayShow pic.twitter.com/krYmAZD746
— The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart (@TheSundayShow) November 14, 2021
