Maxine Waters', Biden’s pre-Chauvin verdict comments come under scrutiny as defense eyes appeal

Derek Chauvin's murder conviction was met with widespread approval among those seeking justice for George Floyd, but the trial's outcome may not be set in stone thanks to remarks from influential political leaders such as Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and President Biden himself.

Waters, who had visited Minnesota before the verdict was announced, said that if Chauvin is not convicted of murder, protesters should "stay in the street," "get more active," and "get more confrontational." In a New York Post op-ed, former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy warned that this alone would be grounds for appeal.

"Because of her, this isn’t over," McCarthy wrote.

McCarthy said that Waters, who represents California, went to Minnesota "to interfere in its judicial system" in violation of a curfew. He argued that "her remarks can only be interpreted as an incitement to violence" and that she "ought to be under investigation."

Biden had also weighed in on the case before the verdict was announced, telling reporters that he was "praying that verdict is the right verdict" and that "I think it's overwhelming, in my view."

The president claimed that he only said this because the jury was already sequestered, but McCarthy argued that this "is no excuse" for making those remarks.

"He is a lawyer and former Senate Judiciary Committee chairman who well knows that sequestration does not make jurors impervious to prejudicial publicity," McCarthy wrote. "And if he’s been following the case as he claims to have been, he knows trial judge Peter Cahill has pleaded that public officials stop commenting on the trial — under circumstances where, even before the Bidens and Waters piped up, there was already substantial reason to doubt that Chauvin could get a fair trial in Minneapolis."

McCarthy was far from the only one to criticize Waters and Biden for their comments.