Rep. Maxine Waters cancels events due to ‘very serious death threat’
The California Democrat, who has called for public protests of Trump administration officials, says she has called off plans to speak in Texas and Alabama in the wake of threatening messages.
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Rep. Maxine Waters, whose call for public protests of Trump administration officials has triggered a debate over civility in politics, said Thursday that she has canceled events in Texas and Alabama this weekend after a "very serious death threat" made against her.
In a statement reported by CNN, the California Democrat said that after President Trump took aim at her Monday on Twitter, "even more individuals are leaving threatening messages and sending hostile mail to my office."
"There was one very serious death threat made against me on Monday from an individual in Texas which is why my planned speaking engagements in Texas and Alabama were cancelled this weekend," Waters said in the statement.
A Waters spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
Waters had been scheduled to speak Saturday morning at the annual legislative conference of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women in Birmingham, Alabama. The organization's president, Karen Camper, told the Alabama news website AL.com that Waters had canceled her appearance because of security concerns.
The details of Waters' Texas event were not immediately known.
Waters has been rebuked by Republicans and Democrats after calling at a Los Angeles rally last weekend for demonstrators to harass Trump's Cabinet officials wherever they go amid an escalating debate over immigration policy.
Taking to Twitter, Trump fired back by calling Waters "an extraordinarily low IQ person" and warning her to "be careful what you wish for."
According to CNN, Waters said in the statement that Capitol Police are investigating several other threats in which people have vowed "to shoot, lynch, or cause me serious bodily harm."
Eva Malecki, a Capitol Police spokeswoman, said the department does not comment on ongoing investigations.
The news comes on the same day that a gunman opened fire in the offices of the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, killing five people and gravely injuring several others.
On his radio show Thursday afternoon, Fox News host Sean Hannity appeared to suggest that Waters was partly responsible for the shooting.
"I've been saying now for days that something horrible was going to happen because of the rhetoric," he said. "Really, Maxine?"