Investigative Group

Maxine Waters Takes Photo With DC Councilman Who Claimed Jewish Bankers Control Weather

Dome of the U.S. Capitol building. (By Diliff - Uploaded by Diliff, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=517895)

Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters posed for a photo on Sept. 13 with Washington, D.C., Councilman Trayon White, who stirred controversy by spreading a conspiracy theory about Jewish bankers secretly controlling the weather.

The Democratic councilman posted on Facebook a pair of selfies with Waters at a Congressional Black Caucus event.

Image: Screenshot/Facebook

White sparked a backlash after posting a March 18 Facebook video where he blamed a late snowfall on wealthy Jewish bankers who he claimed secretly manipulate the weather. He later apologized.

White has also come under fire over his ties to the Nation of Islam, an anti-Semitic group whose leader, Louis Farrakhan, has repeatedly accused Jews of being “satanic” and once praised Adolf Hitler as a “very great man.”

A spokesman for Waters did not return a request for comment on the photo of her with White.

Waters has her own ties to Farrakhan and once appeared at a Nation of Islam event in 2002 where Farrakhan defended Palestinian suicide bombers.

Farrakhan praised Waters in the same speech.

Follow Hasson on Twitter @PeterJHasson