Over the past few months, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has made herself something of a superstar to the left due to her outspoken criticism of the Trump administration, especially when it comes to theinvestigation into Russian election interference and potential collusion with Trump associates.

During an appearance on tonight’s broadcast of MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, Waters not only went after the administration and campaign on Russia in the wake of today’s declaration by the House Oversight Committee that ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn may have broken the law, she also speculated on a GOP lawmaker’s Russian ties.

After telling host Chris Hayes that “it’s all about the money” and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was appointed due to his friendship with Vladimir Putin, she was then asked her thoughts about what House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz is doing. The Utah lawmaker will not seek re-election and issued some harsh comments about Flynn today regarding his potential lawbreaking.

Her astonishing response, in its entirety, is as follows:

“No, I really don’t [understand what he’s doing]. There is a lot of speculation about what he’s doing. There are those who were told that he’s trying to position himself to run for higher office, and I think it’s for governor. There are those who think that he, in some ways, has some connections to what is going on in the Ukraine and perhaps in Russia itself and knows something about all of this. I don’t really know. I can’t say, but he’s strange in the way that he’s conducting himself. And maybe he thinks that if he rolls out and points to the fact that something is going on with Flynn that he did not disclose, and this is criminal––I mean, he’s violated a federal law––that somehow this will raise him above maybe what connections he may have with the Kremlin. I don’t know. But we need to keep an eye on him.”

It would appear that Waters is embracing a theory pushed by investigative journalist and noted Russian conspiracy theorist Louise Mensch about Chaffetz. Mensch claimed prior to Chaffetz announcing his upcoming retirement from Congress that Russia has “kompromat” on the GOP congressman:

Sources say there is kompromat on @jasoninthehouse; that this is why he turned and that @fbi know it. #traitorinthehouse — Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) April 13, 2017

For his part, Hayes did point out to Waters that he has not seen any evidence that points to that regarding Chaffetz.

Watch the exchange above, via MSNBC.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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