Maxine Waters: Trump Is Setting Us Up To Be Killed, "In A Civil War Some Of Us Will Be The First To Be Killed"

Story by Real Clear Politics
Written by Tim Hains

Rep. Maxine Waters told MSNBC's Ali Velshi Wednesday that she no longer feels safe traveling or going out in public without security because of the death threats she gets "constantly."

"I mean, I can't go to the grocery store anymore by myself. I have to pay for security all the time. I can't move around the country without security," Waters said. "He is setting some of us up to be killed. I have death threats constantly. There are a number of people who have been convicted for threatening to kill me."

Waters said Trump is "dog-whistling to the white supremacists, the KKK, and the dangerous people."

"We have stories about many of those white supremacists who do nothing but practice how they are going to be involved in a civil war and fight against this government. And this president is irresponsible in so many ways, aside from making us a target of these white supremacists and those who would kill us in a civil war. Some of us would be the first to be killed," she warned.

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ALI VELSHI, MSNBC: We want to move swiftly and follow the facts. You have said that you think Donald Trump should be thrown in solitary confinement. Are you worried that maybe your passions about him are getting past the speed at which Nancy Pelosi would like to run the impeachment hearings?

REP. MAXINE WATERS: I think that most people know me and know what I've been doing for the last two years. They know I've spoken about the president's lack of understanding or appreciation for the constitution. He doesn't care about the democracy and how he has undermined all of those who are trying so hard to make this democracy stronger, and so I think people know me, and I think that they know I have the best interests of this country at heart and that I've worked very hard, and that I've spoken truth to power in ways that many others didn't even have the courage to do it. And so I'm not worried about anybody thinking that somehow I am not on track to move forward with my caucus and with the speaker to be focused and laser-like on what we have to do to move this impeachment inquiry forward.

ALI VELSHI: You've got tough skin. You've been attacked by the president several times, but you are an elected official. There's a very different flavor when the president goes after this whistle-blower and anybody who informed the whistle-blower. There is language that the president used including calling them "traitors" and "spies" and saying they should be dealt with. Today again saying, "I want to know who this person is." Someone needs to turn this whistle-blower in and that -- he tweeted in fact consequences. I think going after Maxine Waters is different than going after a whistle-blower.

MAXINE WATERS: Well, whatever. He shouldn't be going after anybody. He's a president of the United States of America.

He is setting some of us up to be killed. I have death threats constantly. There are a number of people who have been convicted for threatening to kill me.

And when he does that, he's dog-whistling to the white supremacists, the KKK, and the dangerous people.

We have stories about many of those white supremacists who do nothing but practice how they are going to be involved in a civil war and fight against this government.

And this president is irresponsible in so many ways, aside from making us a target of these white supremacists and those who would kill us in a civil war. Some of us would be the first to be killed.

And so I want to tell you whether it's Maxine Waters or whether it's a whistle-blower, he has no business doing that.

ALI VELSHI: Do you think he's endangering people's safety?

MAXINE WATERS: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I can't go to the grocery store anymore by myself. I have to pay for security all the time. I can't move around the country without security. And the whistle-blower is protected by law. And he should not be talking about he wants to interview them. If he knew anything about law, he wouldn't be so ignorant as to think that somehow anybody's going to allow him to interview a whistle-blower.