Congresswoman Maxine Waters made headlines and raised eyebrows when the California Democrat showed up in the middle of a volatile crowd in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota in April. She called for agitators who’d already turned violent “to stay in the streets” and “get more active, more confrontational” ahead of a verdict in the trial of now-convicted former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. “We are looking for a guilty verdict,” Waters told media on the scene.
At the time, Katie reported on the hypocritical request Waters made for security on her jaunt to the North Star State:
New documents obtained by Townhall show Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters requested an armed police escort to Minneapolis over the weekend, where she called for violent activists to “stay in the streets” during a protest against law enforcement.
Waters flew from Dulles International Airport to Minnesota-St. Paul International Airport on Saturday, April 17, just days ahead of a verdict in the George Floyd, Officer Derek Chauvin trial.
That night, Waters went to meet with protestors and demanded a guilty verdict for Chauvin “or else.”
What we didn’t know at the time was where the security personnel assigned to Waters came from and what her request meant for their usual duties. But now we do.
Waters received protection from federal air marshals who were pulled from original assignments aboard commercial flights deemed “high risk,” a move that “angered some sky marshals, as protecting the public is their primary mission,” according to complaints and interviews reported by Fox News:
“Congresswoman Maxine Waters utilized numerous government resources inappropriately,” the complaint reads. “Federal Air Marshals were removed from a “High Risk” flight to cover Ms. Waters flight to Minnesota. The High Risk flight took off with no armed law enforcement on board leaving a gap in National Security.”
The Federal Air Marshal Service falls under the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security and was expanded significantly by President George W. Bush to protect commercial flights following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Waters—who was reportedly already assigned a detail of two United States Capitol Police officers and two United States Secret Service officers—requested two marshals for her flight from Dulles International Airport to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport along with two more marshals to provide protection at the airport in Minnesota, a complaint to the House Ethics Committee alleges.
Rep. Waters is apparently not the only member to take advantage of air marshals following the events at the Capitol on January 6, and some “who requested the service skipped their scheduled flights, according to records reviewed by Fox News, which was also told that lawmakers from both parties used the service – sometimes on official business, other times for personal travel.”
The president of the Air Marshal National Council David Londo slammed Waters and other members of congress who use air marshals for travel protection in a complaint to the DHS Inspector General:
“Placing FAMs on aircraft simply because a member of Congress requests it is an egregious misuse of government resources. The FAMs are now taking agents off of regularly scheduled ‘high risk’ flights to put them on flights with members of Congress, that in most cases have their own armed federal security details onboard already. It has become akin to a type of extremely expensive concierge service for Congressional members.”
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