Florida politicians sharing thoughts on the Jan. 6 public hearings

Critical testimony came on Monday in the Jan. 6 public hearings from people in former President Trump’s circle.

All four, including his former campaign manager, testified that he was told widespread election fraud claims were false.

Republicans are now concerned over the evidence presented in these hearings.

The video is captivating, and the testimony is fascinating, but the reaction to the select committee hearing on Jan. 6 is mixed.

Trey Gowdy, the former South Carolina House representative, said on Fox News that the hearings need to include cross-examination of witnesses.

WINK News asked Florida’s commissioner of Agriculture and only statewide elected Democrat, Nikki Fried, how she would defend the lack of cross-examination.

“This is not an actual trial,” said Fried,

Fried, who’s running for governor, said cross-examination can, and should, come if the Department of Justice, or any other government agency, charges Trump.

She believes most Republican politicians are not, and never were, interested in the whole truth.

“I think that this is really just their opportunity to try to spin this and try to, really, kind of put some negative tone on this,” said Fried.

There’s also criticism that the committee only plays select clips from the witnesses.

Republican Congressmen Greg Stuebe and Byron Donalds, who said this is just a partisan TV show, said on Friday that they don’t trust cherry-picked video.

“I would love to see all of the actual factual evidence and let the American people decide for themselves,” said Stuebe.

“You probably had a two and a half three-hour interview. What else did Bill Barr say?” said Donalds.

The two congressmen want to see all of the videos.

So does Naples resident Christopher Worrell, who faces several capitol riot charges. He appeared in a short clip during Thursday’s hearing.

Worrell’s attorney told the News-Press that the video was used for ‘production’ and was cropped, edited, incomplete and untruthful.

Fried said that the attorney should show his proof and said it’s telling no one has come out to express that their statements were taken out of context.

“We are living in a time where it is not hard to get your voice out,” Fried said.

If you would like to watch a recap of Monday’s public hearing events, you can do so in the video below.