California Rep. Maxine Waters has urged Americans to vote President Donald Trump out of office in November or risk four years of constitutional crisis and presidential overreach.
Waters—a long-time critic of the president—told MSNBC Wednesday that Trump will be emboldened after his acquittal by the Senate and keen to build closer ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We've got to make sure this man is not elected again," Waters told host Joy Reid. The congresswoman said Trump would look to pardon those convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and draw his administration closer to the Kremlin.
"He will pardon [former campaign manager Paul] Manafort," Waters predicted. "He will lift all of the sanctions from Russia. He will be even more involved with the oligarchs of Russia, and he's going to bring Putin to the White House."
"He's going to put Putin right in our face," Waters added. "He's going to say, 'Be damned the Congress of the United States.'"
Trump has been criticized by both opponents and allies for his warm treatment of Putin. The president has even maligned U.S. intelligence agencies and Congress for suggesting Moscow meddled in the 2016 election.
Putin has not yet visited the White House during Trump's tenure, though the pair have held joint press conferences during bilateral talks in Helsinki, Finland, and at the G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan.
The Russian government has invited Trump to attend this year's May 9 military parade in Red Square commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, though the White House has not yet said whether the president will go.
Waters said those who "respect and care about the Constitution and know that Russia has hacked into our Democratic National Committee, into our state election system—and we are knowing very well that they're going to do it again in this election," have to "work hard" to make sure the president is held to account.
Trump does not appear to have been cowed by last year's House impeachment vote. He has fired impeachment witnesses, issued a range of pardons and is accused of pressuring the Department of Justice to moderate the proposed sentence for former aide Roger Stone.
"We have a president that's out of control," Waters said Wednesday. "He is going to get revenge, he is going to show you that there are no limits to the presidential power...He's going to be even worse."
The congresswoman said the U.S. is in a constitutional crisis with "a president who is running amok," and his acquittal by the Senate means it is up to voters to remove him from power.
"The American public should get behind this if they care anything about our democracy," she said. "We've got to speak up, we've got to resist. I don't hear enough voices."
