■ Florida GOP chairman Rep. Joe Gruters and others rally against impeachment at Stephanie Murphy’s office in Seminole County.
Gruters says Democratic lawmaker has ‘lost all credibility’ at news conference
SANFORD — A street corner in Sanford was America 2019 in miniature on Thursday, as pro-President Trump and antiTrump groups yelled at each other across Oak Avenue with police keeping them apart.
Both groups were there for state GOP Chair Joe Gruters’ news conference outside Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy’s office in Sanford.
Gruters, standing at a lectern on the sidewalk outside the building, said U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “and Democrats like Stephanie Murphy are putting party before politics and therefore have lost all credibility.”
Gruters, a state representative from Sarasota, cited recent polls showing “the American people are not on their side.”
Asked about a Fox News poll Thursday showing 51% support for impeachment and removal of Trump, Gruters responded, “Sure, just like the polls just before the election that said the president was going to lose. We have full faith in the [American] people.”
Murphy wasn’t in the Sanford office at the time. She was at events held by the Oviedo-Winter Springs Chamber of Commerce and the PTSD treatment group UCF Restores.
“The Republican Party of Florida can attack me all they want, but I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution,’” Murphy said later in a statement. “I will not be bullied into abandoning my oath. We must uncover the truth and get the facts for the American people.”
Murphy, whose district is one of the few competitive congressional seats in Florida, was among several Democratic moderates who had been cautious about impeachment. But she and dozens of others ultimately backed a House inquiry against President Trump last month.
The scene before the news conference was loud and raucous, as the two competing groups of about 30-plus people held up signs on opposite ends of the street.
The groups yelled, “Four More Years” and “No More Years” at each other, and also exchanged chants of “Lock Her Up” and “Lock Him Up.”
Pro-Trump protesters held signs reading, “Investigate Joe Biden,” “Trump 2020” and “Adam will Schiff his Pants,” referring to House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff.
Anti-Trump counterprotesters waved signs reading, “Dump Trump,” “Make America America Again: Impeach Trump,” and “No One is Above the Law.”
Sherry Ashby of Palm Bay said she was there “to reelect Donald Trump and to stop the illegal impeachment proceeding.”
She spoke as Maureen Naylor of Sanford took selfies with her fellow protesters.
“He was duly elected, and there’s no reason to impeach him,” Naylor said. “The election could go either way, and we want people in Florida to realize we support our president. It’s nothing to do with politics, it has to do with our country.”
The investigation has focused so far on a phone call Trump had with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy when Trump asked him to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
There has been no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden or his son. A series of text messages between U.S. and Ukrainian officials suggest that military aid to Ukraine had been held up as Zelenskiy was asked to launch the investigation.
But Naylor said she believed Trump did nothing wrong in asking Ukraine to investigate Biden, saying “he every reason as president and lead law enforcement officer to ask [Ukraine] to investigate corruption. … It’s not against the law, he had every right to do it.”
Gary Cafarella of Volusia County, who wore a “Trump for King” shirt, said he did it to “piss off liberals. We have a good thing going, why change? [But] no, I believe in the Constitution.”
Across Oak Avenue, Barbara Bentarola of Sanford said she believed Trump’s actions were impeachable.
“If you call a foreign government as the leader of the country and say to their leader they’re due for [military] aid, but they’re not getting it until they dig up dirt on a political rival?” Bentarola asked.
All throughout the protest and news conference, Mike Padgett walked past the pro-Trump demonstrators, calling them “Russian-loving pigs, not welcome in Sanford.”
“I’m a Republican, you idiots,” Padgett told the protesters, one of whom said they would pray for him. “I’ve voted Republican most of my life.”
Gruters, who said his job as chairman was not in danger after Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested slashing his salary, added that he and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz will hold a similar rally outside Democratic U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala’s office in Miami on Friday.