Showing posts with label Rep Maxine Waters D CA. Show all posts

20 May 2018

BLOGGERS Say Maxine Waters told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that her first act as president would be to "impeach Donald Trump." 15MAI18

THIS shows just how stupid these right wing bloggers and all who shared this post as the truth are. IF Maxine Waters was president she wouldn't be able to impeach donald drumpf/trump because he would not be president. AND only Congress can impeach the president. DUH, REALLY, DUH!!!! BIG surprise these people watch fox faux news! These people need to pull their heads out of their asses. From PolitiFact.....

Maxine Waters

U.S. House of Representatives, D-Calif.

Say Maxine Waters told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that her first act as president would be to "impeach Donald Trump."

posts on the Internet – Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Say Maxine Waters told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that her first act as president would be to "impeach Donald Trump."

No, Maxine Waters did not say she would impeach Donald Trump if she were president

By Louis Jacobson on Thursday, May 17th, 2018 at 5:30 p.m.

This meme has been circulating widely on social media.

Maxine Waters may be just one of 435 members of Congress, but President Donald Trump has elevated the profile of the California Democrat.

In March, at a campaign rally in southwestern Pennsylvania, Trump called Waters — a fierce opponent and the president’s ideological opposite — "a very low-I.Q. individual."

"You ever see her?" Trump continued, to boos aimed at Waters. "You ever seen her? You ever see her? 'We will impeach him! We will impeach the president!' But he hasn't done anything wrong. ‘It doesn't matter, we will impeach him!’ She's a low I.Q. individual. You can't help it. She really is."

Given Waters’ role as a foil for Trump, she has become fodder for social media posts by Trump’s allies.

One we came across was the following post that appeared on May 15, 2018, on the Facebook page "Judge Jeanine Pirro has Fans." This Facebook group bills itself as an independent fan page for Pirro, a Fox News host who is closely allied with Trump.

According to the Facebook group’s "about" page, "Judge Jeanine Pirro is out spoken and always on target. This site will expound on what the Judge is talking about and report what mainstream media won't." The group counted 713,110 followers when we first saw the post.

The post shows what appeared to be a screenshot of a CNN appearance by Waters with host Anderson Cooper. The chyron at the bottom of the screen said, "Maxine Waters 2020," and the meme offered the following dialogue:

Anderson: "If elected what would your first act as President be?"

Waters: "Well Anderson, I would impeach Donald Trump."

The group shared the image by saying, "And we pay her a salary!"

The problem: Waters never said anything of the sort.

The image appears to be from a real newscast on April 19, 2017, when Cooper interviewed Waters about Bill O’Reilly’s departure from Fox News.

But the chyron "Maxine Waters 2020" is fake. The original chyron said, "Bill O’Reilly Out at Fox News."

The meme aims to make it look like Waters actually said that she would impeach Trump if elected president, which would be nonsensical. Obviously, there would be no need to impeach Trump if she either defeated him or succeeded him after he left office. Also, it’s up to Congress to impeach the president.

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Waters has called for investigations that could lead to Trump’s impeachment, but on several occasions — including an interview with the platform Cheddar and a rally at the U.S. Capitol — she called for Trump’s impeachment directly. When she denied on MSNBC in April 2017 that she had called for Trump’s impeachment, we rated her claim Pants on Fire.

We found no evidence that Waters is seriously considering a run for president. While she has occasionally joked about it, she shot down the idea during an appearance on The View in August 2017. (Her office did not respond to an inquiry for this article; nor did the administrator for the Pirro fan site)

Snopes.com noted that the meme appeared elsewhere before the Pirro fan site picked it up. The faked dialogue seems to have initially started as a joke in a May 11 tweet, and a version with the Cooper-Waters visual was retweeted May 14 by Fox News host Brian Kilmeade (he added: "genius"), earning more than 900 retweets and more than 3,000 likes.

Our ruling

Viral social media posts said Maxine Waters told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that her first act as president would be to "impeach Donald Trump."

This exchange never happened; it appears to have emerged as a joke that was eventually attached to a screenshot of an unrelated interview. In any case, the comments are nonsensical and may have more to do with making Waters look unintelligent than with the actual impeachment process.

We rate it Pants on Fire.

About this statement:

Published: Thursday, May 17th, 2018 at 5:30 p.m.

Researched by: Louis Jacobson

Edited by: Katie Sanders

Subjects: Fake news

"Judge Jeanine Pirro has Fans" Facebook group, post, May 15, 2018

RealClearPolitics, "Trump: "Maxine Waters A Very Low I.Q. Individual," March 10, 2018

Anderson Cooper 360, episode transcript, April 19, 2017 (accessed via Nexis)

Anderson Cooper 360, tweet, April 19, 2018

USA Today, "Rep. Maxine Waters says she isn't running for president," Aug. 4, 2017

Alex Griswold, tweet, May 11, 2018

Brian Kilmeade, tweet, May 14, 2018

Snopes, "Did Maxine Waters Say She Would Impeach Trump If She Became President?" May 15, 2018

PolitiFact, "Maxine Waters wrong to say she has 'not called for' Trump's impeachment," April 19, 2017

20 April 2017

Maxine Waters wrong to say she has 'not called for' Trump's impeachment 19APR17

Share The Facts

Maxine Waters

U.S. House of Representatives, D-Calif.

"I have not called for impeachment" of President Donald Trump.

an interview on MSNBC – Tuesday, April 18, 2017

REP Maxine Waters D CA is wrong to deny she has called for (NOT MY) president drumpf's/trump's impeachment because she has. The question is, why deny it? It is not something to be ashamed of, and she does nothing but harm legitimate calls for his impeachment. She also harms the message of Progressive Democrats as the loyal opposition that can be trusted to govern the nation honestly. There is no way to spin this Rep Waters, and she should issue a statement apologizing for this lie and state clearly whether she supports investigating and impeaching drumpf/trump or not. From PolitiFact......

Maxine Waters wrong to say she has 'not called for' Trump's impeachment

By Louis Jacobson on Wednesday, April 19th, 2017 at 4:49 p.m.

More than perhaps any member of Congress, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has discussed the possibility of impeaching President Donald Trump.

So it was a bit of a surprise to hear her say she has "not called for impeachment" of Trump during a recent interview on MSNBC.

Here’s the backstory. On the morning of April 18, 2017, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., tweeted, "The President is a liar, his actions are contemptible, & I'm going to fight everyday until he's impeached."

Later that day, when Waters sat for an interview with MSNBC’s Craig Melvin, the anchor read her tweet on air and asked her about it. Here’s a portion of their exchange:

Melvin: "You just started that by saying the question becomes, should we wait to call for impeachment until we have the answers to have that question..."

Waters: "Well, I have not..."

Melvin: "-- or some of the questions."

Waters: "-- I have not called for impeachment."

Melvin: "You said, ‘I'm going to fight every day until he's impeached.’ That's what you tweeted."

Waters: "Yes, but here's what I've said. Here's what I've said. I've said that we need the information. We need to connect the dots. We need the facts in order to do the impeachment. And I'm going to work every day to try and help get those facts and to reveal them to the republic, to our public until, of course, impeachment is taking place."

A reader asked us to look into Waters’ statement that "I have not called for impeachment."

We found that’s not accurate.

During the interview on MSNBC, Waters seemed to draw a distinction between calling for impeachment and calling for investigations into matters that could lead to impeachment.

And she has taken a more procedural approach at times, saying, for instance, during an April 2 CNN interview that "we want to know about the hacking … and the interference with our elections. And I really want to know, because I know, if we can prove collusion, then he is impeachable. A lot of people don’t want to talk about that, but I do." (Waters’ office did not respond to an inquiry for this article.)

However, even if you grant that this distinction by Waters is valid, ample evidence exists showing Waters actually calling for impeachment.

For instance, on Feb. 3, Waters gave an interview on the streaming video channel Cheddar in which she said her "greatest desire is to lead (Trump) right into impeachment."

Then, just three days before her appearance on MSNBC, Waters spoke at a rally on the Capitol grounds to demand that Trump release his tax filings.

"I don’t respect this president," she told the crowd. "I don’t trust this president. He’s not working in the best interests of the American people. … I will fight every day until he is impeached."

She then proceeded to start the crowd on a chant of "Impeach 45," referring to Trump, the 45th president. The crowd responded to her invitation, and Waters led them by chanting "Impeach 45" three times. She then closed her speech saying, "Go ahead: Impeach 45" before exiting the stage.

You can see Waters and the crowd chanting in this video.

Waters didn’t seem to be hiding the fact that she had chanted "Impeach 45."

The same day she appeared on MSNBC, Waters retweeted a CNN video clip of her speaking and leading the chants.

Our ruling

Waters said on MSNBC that "I have not called for impeachment."

She has at times called for investigations that could lead to Trump’s impeachment, rather than calling for impeachment directly. But on at least two occasions -- the Cheddar interview and the tax rally -- she did call for Trump’s impeachment directly, in one case literally cheerleading for impeaching Trump at a rally at the U.S. Capitol. We rate her claim Pants on Fire.