© Provided by The Independent Maxine Waters says she is "not going to be bullied" after Republicans attacked her for urging Minneapolis protesters to get "more confrontational" if former police officer Derek Chauvin is acquitted for the killing of George Floyd.
Maxine Waters urges Brooklyn Center protesters to get out and vote
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The longtime California congresswoman said Monday that GOP criticism of her was trying to "send a message" to their white supremacist supporters.
"Republicans will jump on any word, any line and try to make it fit their message and their cause for denouncing us and denying us, basically calling us violent," Ms Waters told thegrio.
She said that Republicans "send a message to all of the white supremacists, the KKK, the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and all of that, how this is a time for Republicans to raise money on Democrats backs".
And she added: "This is who they are and this is how they act. And I'm not going to be bullied by them".
Ms Waters sparked criticism from Republicans after she visited Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, where 20-year-old Daune Wright was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop earlier this month.
"We've got to stay in the streets, and we've got to demand justice", she told a crowd of racial justice protesters over the weekend.
The Democratic politician's appearance came as the jury in Minneapolis is set to consider a verdict in the Chauvin trial for the murder of Floyd.
"We're looking for a guilty verdict", she told reporters about the case.
"And if we don't, we cannot go away, we've got to get more confrontational. We've got to make sure that they know that we mean business."
House Minority Leader Republican Kevin McCarthy accused her of condoning political violence.
"Maxine Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis - just as she has incited it in the past. If Speaker Pelosi doesn't act against this dangerous rhetoric, I will bring action this week," Mr McCarthy, the House's top Republican, tweeted on Sunday.
Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said on Sunday that she planned on introducing a resolution to expel Ms Waters from Congress.