A California congresswoman is clarifying earlier comments many interpreted as a threat to kill the president of the United States.
Speaking recently at an LGBT event at the Ali Forney Center, Waters remarked: "Wow, what a moving evening this is. I am sitting here listening, watching, absorbing, thinking about Ali, even though I never met him. And with this kind of inspiration, I will go out and take Trump out tonight."
The comments, which received wild applause from the left-wing audience, were viewed by many as a threat on the president's life.
Asked to clarify Tuesday, Waters said it's "absolutely ridiculous" she's planning to kill Trump.
"Nobody believes that a 79-year-old grandmother who is a congresswoman and who has been in Congress and politics for all of these years talking about doing any harm," she said during an appearance on CNN. "The only harm that I may be doing to the president is I want him impeached, and those people who are so opposed to my leadership on impeachment are organizing the right wing, the white nationalists, the KKK, organized an effort to try and defeat me in my election coming up and to discredit me. Everybody knows that I am on the front lines, not talking about any physical harm to anybody. I am talking about impeachment, and I’m not going to stop."
"He needs to be impeached," she continued. "I want him impeached and I will continue my efforts to call for his impeachment.”
Asked whether it's appropriate to speak about the president in a manner that could be viewed as an assasination threat, Waters was unapologetic, accusing her critics of racism.
“I think I have been extremely responsible in laying out the case in which this president should be impeached," she told Chris Cuomo. "I know the right wing, the white nationalists, all of those who are organized around this president do not like this, and people are not accustomed to a woman, in particular, an African-American woman taking this kind of leadership. How dare me challenge the president of the United States?"
Waters expressed confidence that despite the Russia investigation not yet yielding evidence of impeachable criminality, she would succeed in impeaching the president nonetheless.
"I am depending on the representation by those who may be opposing me now to prove that they are patriotic," she said. "This is about patriotism. This is about do you love this country."
“I know, and that’s why we have a special counsel connecting the dots. I am sorry the intelligence committee of the house and the Senate have not done their job.”