TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Several Democratic state lawmakers say they are worried about how we move forward as a country following the violent riots at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday.
They said what we saw at the Capitol is a natural outcome of months of rhetoric by President Donald Trump and some of his allies, and their unproven claims of election fraud.
“Are you going to be remembered as those who almost toppled our democracy and be with them in your rhetoric, or are you going to to stand up for the democracy as our forefathers have?” Rep. Darren Soto said.
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Some allies have been speaking out.
Rep. Mike Waltz told Eyewitness News: “I fully support the things the president has done, but when it comes to violence, there’s just no place for it.”
“I’ve served in places where they settle their disputes in the streets. That’s not what we do in America. We settle them with debate, with discussion, in the courts and in Congress,” he said.
Some of the people storming the capitol told reporters they plan to fight until the very end, but it’s not clear what the end is.
That’s why some worry about violence spilling over into the anarchist’s home state when they return.
Sen. Linda Stewart said she believes a more forceful denunciation than Gov. Ron DeSantis’ tweet could head that off.
“If he is as disgusted as I am with what’s happening in Washington, DC, and sees that it has trickled down to his state of Florida … he has got to step in and he has got to protect the people of this state and in any way that he possibly can,” Stewart said.
A peaceful demonstration was held at the corner of Orange and Hoffner avenues on Wednesday.
“We had a lot of horns honking in support of what we were standing for,” protester Willie Montague said.
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About 75 people attended.
Donald Mihalek is a former secret service agent. Who served Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
How did demonstrators manage to get past security at the Capitol? Remember, “visitors are allowed,” Mihalek said.
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“We as citizens were allowed to go to the Capitol visit, visit our representatives or congressmen,” he said. “So although there were security to get into the Capitol, it’s pretty much open access.”
Mihalek said a lot of the checkpoints are manned by just a couple Capitol police officers.
“If 300 people are running through the door, it’s hard for two or three Capitol Police officers to be able to control that type of crowd,” he said.