Rep. Maxine Waters is considering bringing a lawsuit against Fox News after the network made false claims about her recent trip to Minnesota and subsequent death threats she's received. According to Yahoo News, Waters cited a call she received in which the person called her the n-word and said she should be “hung by a rope for treason.”
On Friday (May 14), Fox News published a report that claimed Waters used federal law enforcement officers during her travels to and from Minnesota where she attended protests last month following the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright. The report claimed that Waters requested eight federal officers to accompany her on the trip including two Secret Service agents, two Capitol police officers, two air marshals, and two marshals to escort her in the airport. Fox cited an alleged complaint filed with the House Ethics Committee, though both the Secret Service and US Capitol Police denied the claims about the 82-year-old congresswoman.
The outlet’s claims, Waters said, has contributed to the death threats she’s received.
“Fox News is an organization that charades as a news outlet while manufacturing lies, claiming them as truths, and using their platform that reaches millions of Americans as a vessel to spread misinformation. It is no surprise that the targets of Fox’s misinformation campaigns include women of color like me, other people of color, and anyone who dares to speak the truth,” Waters said in a statement to theGrio.
After her trip to Minnesota, Waters reportedly found that a copy of her security threat assessment and flight number had been leaked on a conservative news site, TownHall. “This leak of my travel information and operational and threat assessment information is deeply distributing and puts my life at risk.” The Capitol Police are reportedly conducting an investigation into the leak.
“Because of the way that right wing media outlets have rushed to spread lies about me, it should be no surprise that as an outspoken Black woman with an important role in Congress as Chair of the House Committee on Financial Services, death threats against me have continued,” Waters said.
Waters said she received a voicemail from a caller who said they want her to be “hung by a rope.”
“I pray for your death every day just like you prayed for the f––ing conviction of an officer who is not guilty,” the caller said. “So, go f–– yourself and go shove your face in some dough, in the kitchen, and make some gorilla cookies, b––…. F–– you Maxine Waters…”
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