Maxine Waters Echoes Iranian Propaganda on Downed Drone

Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) on Sunday echoed the Iranian government's position on the recent downing of a U.S. drone in a tweet rebuking President Donald Trump.

The tweet came in response to Trump's decision to cancel a retaliatory air strike against Iran for shooting down the American spy drone. Iranian officials claim the drone was flying through Iranian air space and they were justified in destroying it, but American defense officials have denied the claim, saying the drone was flying over international waters.

Rep. Waters appeared to endorse the Iranian position on the issue in her attack on Trump.

"Trump, you get no credit for so-called stopping the strike against Iran," Waters said. "Why was the unmanned drone in Iran's airspace? Why the surveillance? Don't provoke and then pretend innocence."

The Pentagon has released evidence indicating that their drone did not enter Iranian territory as Waters claimed. A map tracking the drone’s flight path shows the aircraft flying adjacent to Iran’s borders but never crossing over.

The Iranian government has countered with its own evidence contradicting that of the U.S. military. The Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, tweeted a photo of a hand-drawn map tracing a flight path over Iranian waters. He also claimed that Iran recovered wreckage of the drone in Iran's territory where it was shot down.

Waters did not explain why she found the evidence presented by Iran more compelling than that of her country's military.

The congresswoman has criticized Trump in the past for questioning American intelligence officials. In January, after Trump challenged the findings of intelligence chiefs regarding Iran’s nuclear developments, Waters railed against Trump's "blatant lies on our nation's intel chiefs' testimony."

"Past time for impeachment," she said on Twitter.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R., Tex.), a former U.S. Navy Seal, has condemned Waters's position on the downed drone. "This is a shocking comment from a House Committee Chairwoman," Crenshaw said. "She is literally repeating the lies of the Iranian regime. What a disgrace. Maxine Waters’ hate for Trump runs so deep that she is willing to take Iran’s side over the word of our military."

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