Maxine Waters in impeachment speech says Trump ‘capable of starting a civil war’

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Wednesday assailed President Trump in remarks from the House floor as the chamber prepared to vote on whether to impeach the president for a second time. 

“I rise in support of impeaching again,” Waters emphasized with a pointed finger as she began her address, “the worst president in the history of the United States.

“This president has spent four years abusing his power, lying, embracing authoritarianism [and] radicalizing his supporters against democracy,” she continued. “This corruption poisoned the minds of his supporters, inciting them to willingly join white supremacists, neo-Nazis and paramilitary extremists in a siege of the United State Capitol building, the very seat of American democracy.” 

House Democrats introduced an impeachment article against Trump on Monday over his role in the Jan. 6 riot. The article charged him with “willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States” after he told his supporters in remarks outside the White House ahead of the riot to march to the Capitol. 

“If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore,” he also said during the speech, in which he repeated disputed claims about the election that he has made since the race was called for President-elect Joe Biden in November.

Weeks before the riot, Trump also invited his supporters to gather in the nation’s capital and protest Congress’s certification of Electoral College votes affirming Biden’s victory. 

“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” he tweeted on Dec. 19. 

In remarks on the House floor on Wednesday, Waters called the Republican party the “Trump party” and added: “This is a Trump power grab that will not stop.”

“This president intends to exercise power long after he is out of office … we should be concerned that the Republicans will not defend him and he is capable of starting a civil war. He must be impeached. He must be stopped now,” she added.

The impeachment article against Trump passed with bipartisan support later on Wednesday as a number of Republicans joined Democrats voting to pass the measure. He is the first president in history to be impeached twice.

Trump had also been impeached by the House in December 2019 on charges of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power after months of investigations by lawmakers over his dealings with Ukraine.

Waters was one of the first members of Congress to call for Trump’s impeachment and was met with viral praise for her steadfast calls for his impeachment at the time the articles were announced.

The impeachment article passed by the House on Wednesday now heads to the Senate, where Trump’s second ever impeachment trial will be held, just as last time.