- A group of
neo-Nazis demonstrated in Orlando on Saturday, WMFE reported. Florida Democrats and Republicans both condemned the demonstrators over the weekend.
Florida Gov.
"So what I'm going to say is these people, these Democrats who are trying to use this as some type of political issue to try to smear me as if I had something to with do that, we're not playing their game," the governor said during a press conference in Palm Beach.
WMFE reported that a group of 15 to 20 people gathered in Orlando carrying a banner for the National Socialist Movement as well as Nazi flags and signs.
The group saluted Adolf Hitler, shouted antisemitic remarks at cars, and chanted "white power!" WMFE reported.
The outlet reported some of the demonstrators got into a fight with a driver on the road and displayed banners on a bridge over Interstate 4.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said the office is investigating the incident in a tweet.
—Sheriff John Mina (@SheriffMina) January 31, 2022
During the press conference, DeSantis said police would hold the demonstrators accountable for displaying signs on the overpass.
"Some jackasses doing this on the street ... First of all, state law enforcement is going to hold them accountable because they were doing stuff on the overpass, so they are absolutely going to be doing that and they should do that," he said.
The governor was criticized by Florida Democrats for not immediately condemning the demonstrators and not making any comments until his Monday press conference, the Miami Herald reported.
"It should be easy, Ron. Condemn the Nazis," US Rep. Charlie Crist, a Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate said in a tweet.
The incident garnered condemnation from Republicans as well.
"The hateful & anti-Semitic demonstrations reported in Florida today have no place in our state. Across America, we've seen a heartbreaking & disgusting rise in hate like this. We must always condemn it & continue to stand strongly with our Jewish communities," Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott said in a tweet.
DeSantis' comments came a day after his press secretary, Christina Pushaw, posted a tweet suggesting the demonstrators were actually Democrats in disguise.
—Charlie Crist (@CharlieCrist) February 1, 2022
"Do we even know if they are Nazis? Or is this a student like the 'white nationalists' who crashed the Youngkin rally in Charlottesville pretending to be Dem staffers?" Pushaw said in the now-deleted tweet.
Pushaw was referencing an October 2021 stunt by the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Republican group that sent a group posing as white supremacists to an event for Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Insider has reached out to DeSantis' office for comment.