Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.) said that President Donald Trump should have been convicted of a crime "numerous times" in an interview published Wednesday.
Waters is one of Trump's fiercest critics on Capitol Hill and has repeatedly declared he should be impeached. In an interview with New York Times Magazine writer Ana Marie Cox, Waters responded to a question about the House Ethics Committee's investigation of her in 2012 for improperly intervening on behalf of a bank her husband had a financial stake in.
"Do you think it's odd that [Republicans] did that to you but won't go after President Trump?" Cox asked.
"I was completely exonerated," Waters said. "There have been numerous times when Trump should have been convicted of a crime. If Robert Mueller does the investigation that I think he's going to do, I think he will connect the dots. I think that they're going to find not only conflict of interest but also obstruction of justice. I think he's in for new possibilities of either being charged criminally or, as I think, impeached."
Waters did not specify for which crimes Trump should have been convicted.
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington previously dubbed Waters one of the "most corrupt" members of Congress, but her invectives against Trump have made her a progressive darling in 2017 and led to the nickname "Auntie Maxine" from millennial supporters.
"I've seen a few references to your rhetoric, including the nickname Kerosene Maxine. Do you like—" Cox started to ask.
"I don't," Waters said. "I think it was born out of a right-wing group's description of a person they didn't like, and they try to tag you with something that would help others believe there's something wrong with you. I like Auntie Maxine."
Waters added that she felt Democrats could do a better job of speaking to opportunity for African-American voters and also to the "targeting and killing" of unarmed black males.
"Most African-Americans really do believe that we are voting for our better interest in voting for Democrats," she said. "Can the Democrats do an even better job of having a platform that speaks not only to opportunity but also to some of the targeting and killing of young unarmed black males that has taken place in our country? I think that is not dealt with nearly enough."