It’s not unusual to find Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California in the midst of a controversy whenever mass lawbreaking is in effect. The question is, is she telling the truth?
Waters, a notorious firebrand, was in the news over the weekend as parts of Los Angeles burned due to riots against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that began last week.
Most of the news involved the fact that Waters, whose district includes part of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, was one of five Democratic lawmakers who said they were turned away from an detention facility where those who were being held after the raids or due to protests against the raids were being held.
“All five members — Representatives Maxine Waters, Jimmy Gomez and Norma Torres of California and Representatives Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez of New York — said that they should have been allowed to enter the buildings as members of Congress,” The New York Times reported Sunday.
However, Waters managed to make a bit more news on Monday when she appeared on CNN and insisted that the violence in Los Angeles was so non-existent that it could be characterized as actions carried out by “one or two or a few people.”
“I just want to point out, and I’m sure you know this, congresswoman, there has been some violence in the course of these protests,” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer told her toward the end of the interview.
“Some police officers were assaulted, and some vehicles were damaged in the process. So, there has been some violence out there, right?”
Not so much, as far as Rep. Waters was concerned.
“Well, the thing about it is you may have people, one or two or a few people who will not conform,” she said.
“That happens everywhere. That happens in our workplace. There’s always someone who does something. But we are saying to people, ‘Don’t be goaded. Don’t be goaded into a confrontation. Don’t be goaded into violence because that’s what Trump wants.’
“He wants the violence, so that he can send in the military and create martial law. That’s what he wants. And if a few people were doing that, I’ve not heard of anybody being shot. I’ve not heard of anybody being killed. I’ve not heard of anybody being beaten. So, I don’t know what all this so-called violence is all about.”
HERE WE GO AGAIN: Maxine Waters is doubling down, claiming the LA riots were mostly peaceful.
CNN: “Some police officers were assaulted, and some vehicles were damaged in the process. So there has been some violence out there, right?”
WATERS: Well, it’s okay cause that was… pic.twitter.com/nokFxh0Iti
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 9, 2025
As you may have heard, President Trump has taken quite the opposite tack, writing on Truth Social Sunday that “violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations” and that he was authorizing the federal government “to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots.”
Donald J. Trump Truth Social 06.08.25 04:06 PM EST pic.twitter.com/XJy2qwEZOk
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) June 8, 2025
In a presidential memorandum issued the day before, Trump authorized military presence in Los Angeles “to temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations.”
And, if you looked on social media, it wasn’t difficult to find videos that indicated it wasn’t “one or two or a few people,” unless your definition of “a few” is indeed very broad — so broad as to be almost sarcastic in its application, which almost certainly wasn’t Rep. Waters’ intention.
WARNING: The following videos contain vulgar language and images of violence that some viewers will find offensive.
????The streets in LA officially belong to the rioters pic.twitter.com/de8eGGAH4p
— Cam Higby | America First ???????? (@camhigby) June 9, 2025
California National Guard moving forward along with LAPD to clear the crowd from the area pic.twitter.com/vGq53XE8cV
— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) June 10, 2025
Anti-ICE Protesters in LA try to rob me and KICK ME OUT of “there” streets pic.twitter.com/U6URqcyuGh
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) June 9, 2025
LA is a lawless hellscape right now. The main protest broke off into a bunch of smaller groups, and now they’re all over the place looting, burning and causing chaos. The police are constantly playing catch-up. pic.twitter.com/DCFZSzwrcK
— Dixie (@OSiiNT) June 10, 2025
A Sushi shop was just looted. Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/66zXI78Sba
— Dixie (@OSiiNT) June 10, 2025
Multiple Waymo vehicles set ablaze here in LA pic.twitter.com/p2iVDUbEIL
— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) June 9, 2025
This is hardly just “a few” people engaging in violent lawlessness. And in terms of lawlessness against law enforcement, that wasn’t hard to find, either:
LA Protester hits cop with huge rock thrown from bridge.
Clearly attempted murder – why are The Radical Left like this? pic.twitter.com/32UQ5tixSo
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) June 9, 2025
Gavin has lost control of California pic.twitter.com/NhcXyp0m35
— Clown World ™ ???? (@ClownWorld_) June 9, 2025
Officers are reporting that people in the crowd are throwing concrete, bottles and other objects. Arrests are being initiated.
A DISPERSAL ORDER has been issued for the area of Alameda and Temple.
Those at Alameda and Temple must leave the area.
— LAPD Central Division (@LAPDCentral) June 8, 2025
NEW ????: I’ve discovered pallets of cement bricks within striking distance of the ICE agents. There’s no other pallets around, some are in the back of the gate, but these are in front of the gate.
I’m told protestors used these cement bricks to throw at ICE agents.
Paramount, CA pic.twitter.com/Ma8slg8iKt
— Anthony (@AnthonyCabassa_) June 7, 2025
Meanwhile, local station KTLA-TV reported that “scooters and other items,” including “commercial grade fireworks” and “Molotov cocktails,” were being thrown at police officers.
“That can kill you,” Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
While it is impossible to judge the scale of these protests at the moment or the damage they present, and it’s also impossible to know what Rep. Waters meant when she said “one or two or a few” rioters were responsible for this kind of violence, this is simply too widespread and self-evidently destructive to justify her remarks — or CNN airing them unchallenged without correction.
We rate this claim as false.
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