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Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., called out President Trump and stay-at-home protesters during a Monday interview on Spectrum News 1 while lobbying for businesses to remain closed throughout the country.
Waters said the president and lockdown protesters should be “ashamed of themselves” for putting political pressure on U.S. governors to force them to move faster in reopening their state economies.
“You know our governors are under great stress,” she said during an appearance on “Inside the Issues.”
“And the protests that have been organized, the protests that are trying to intimidate our governors to open up everything — are protests where the people participating in that should be ashamed of themselves. They should not be encouraged in any way. They should not be encouraged from the top leadership of this country to go out and do that.”
She added: “I know the pressure is on. And I know that you’re trying to hold the line. And I want you to hold the line. I don’t want to see these establishments opened back up… These small businesses that are in direct contact with people: nail shops, beauty shops, barbershops, flower shops, these are people in touch with folks every day, and they’re risking their lives. And we don’t want them opened up.”
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The California Democrat then reiterated her sympathy for state governors and encouraged them to continue to fight the White House, before citing her own governor, Gavin Newsom — also a Democrat — as the example to follow.
“We are very sympathetic to the pressure that is being put on by the president of the United States and the organized efforts of these protesters,” Waters said. “But we want the governors — hold the line. Be as tough as you can be. Be as thoughtful as you can be. Do everything that you can to hold the line. And I know that Governor Newsom is doing that. And any small steps that he takes, he’s doing it with a lot of thought. So we’re with you governor. And we support you. Hold the line.”
Newsom has offered praise for the Trump administration’s efforts to assist his state with various COVID-19-related issues and on Tuesday announced plans for California offices, malls and restaurants to begin reopening.
“Let me just be candid with you. I’d be lying to you to say that [Trump] hasn’t been responsive to our needs. He has,” Newsom told CNN last month. “And so, as a question, as a sort of an offer of objectivity, I have to acknowledge that publicly.”
Newsom’s plan for businesses to reopen established strict sanitary standards and said noncompliance could be met with an immediate shutdown by state officials.
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As of Sunday, there were more than 67,000 positive cases of coronavirus in California and over 2,700 deaths. Nationwide, there were more than 1.3 million cases and over 80,000 deaths.
Of the over 9.3 million tests issued in the U.S., 14.4 percent have come back positive.
Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report
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