Maxine Waters Blasts Omar Navarro After He Gets Michael Flynn Endorsement, Calls Them 'Criminals'
STUDIO CITY (CBSLA) — Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters has gone on the offensive, firing back at the GOP candidate looking to unseat her following his endorsement from former Trump adviser Michael Flynn.
Flynn's endorsement of Omar Navarro at the 43rd District candidate's event Friday was his first time speaking publicly since pleading guilty last year to lying to the FBI about conversations with a Russian diplomat.
A tweet from Waters' reelection campaign account Friday read, "Desperate, unstable, and convicted criminal Omar Navarro stoops low in soliciting help from another indicted criminal in a campaign against #MaxineWaters - what a campaign!"
Waters' criminal accusation against Navarro stems from his conviction in 2016, in which he plead guilty to placing a tracking device on his wife's car. He claimed he placed the device on the vehicle because he thought someone would steal it.
Flynn took to the podium at Navarro's fundraising event in La Quinta near Palm Desert Friday.
"What I'm not here to do is, I'm not here to complain about who has done me wrong or how unfair I've been treated, or how unfair the entire process has been, " Flynn told the chuckling crowd.
"I'm here to talk about the future — your future, our future, the future of this country.[...] I saw a passion in the eyes of Omar.[...] My passion and my destiny changed when I saw our country taking a fundamentally different direction, in a world filled with challenges and challengers," Flynn continued, a banner reading "Make California Great Again" hanging above him.
Flynn's son Michael Flynn Jr. tweeted the endorsement Friday.
In a video on Navarro's campaign website, the 29-year-old called out Rep. Maxine Waters outside what he said is her home outside of the district she represents.
"Maxine Waters is out of touch with what's going on in the district and the issues in the district," Navarro says. "How is someone that's in Congress gonna understand the real needs of her district when she's not living in that community?" Navarro goes on.
According to Navarro's campaign website, he has received endorsements from former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, former Trump adviser Roger Stone and far-right broadcaster and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Back in December, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with former Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.
California's 43rd Congressional District includes portions of the cities of Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena and Torrance, as well as the South L.A. Neighborhoods of Lennox and West Athens.
