Florida lawmakers react to Biden report

Lawmakers around the state reacted to the Justice Department’s report on President Joe Biden’s classified documents case and a new bill could change how Floridians get their driver’s licenses.

Florida lawmakers react to Biden report

Democrats were on the offensive in the aftermath of the Justice Department’s report about President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents after his vice presidency, taking particular umbrage with special counsel Robert Hur’s comments about his memory and mental acuity.

Republicans, on the other hand, seized upon the opportunity to declare the Democratic president unfit for office as he seeks another term in the White House.

They also used the opportunity to try and paint a picture of a double standard between Biden’s case, which Hur declared was not warranting of criminal charges, and that of former President Donald Trump, who faces 40 felony charges for alleged mishandling of classified documents — though there are key differences in the two cases, namely in that the Republican also faces charges for allegedly trying to hamper the government’s efforts to retrieve them.

The report puts the president’s age into the spotlight, a concern among voters per recent polling, as he makes his case for reelection this fall in a likely rematch against Trump — who despite being only three years Biden’s junior and committing gaffes of his own, does not appear to have the same level of scrutiny from voters on that issue.

Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report found that Biden willfully retained classified documents following his tenure as Vice President… but said Biden will not face criminal charges.

Florida’s members of Congress are reacting to the special counsel’s report. Republicans are firing sharp criticism over the findings the report made about the president’s memory.

Several Florida Republicans are now seizing on comments the report made about the President’s age and mental acuity.

“Biden can’t withstand the intellectual rigor of a trial because he’s an ‘elderly man with a poor memory’ but he’s OK to be the commander-in-chief with the world on fire?” Rep. Mike Waltz said.

Biden delivered remarks Thursday night after the report’s release drawing distinctions between how he cooperated with investigators versus the classified document case brought against Trump, his lead GOP rival for the White House.

He also fired back against the findings made in the special counsel report about his memory.

“I know there’s some attention paid to some language in the report about my recollection of events. There’s even a reference that I don’t remember when my son died. How in the hell dare he raise that? Frankly? When I was asked the question, I thought to myself it wasn’t any of their damn business,” Biden said.

But, later in his remarks, the President raised more eyebrows when he referred to the president of Egypt as the president of Mexico.

Sen. Rick Scott suggested the President should be removed from office, posting, “In defending his mental sharpness, Biden just mixed up the presidents of Mexico and Egypt. This train wreck of a press conference confirms the need for the 25th Amendment.”

Florida’s Democrats have been largely quiet over the matter.

But, on X, Rep. Jared Moskowitz posted a meme pondering how “MAGA Republicans” are reconciling talking points that Biden is “old” with false claims that he is a “mastermind” who stole the 2020 presidential election.

Biden, who’s 81, is the oldest President in American history. Trump is 77.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is trailing Trump, is 52. She’s called for Biden to take a mental acuity test.

What’s next for the primaries

Former President Donald Trump got nearly all the votes during the Nevada caucus last night with 99% of voters supporting him.

His chief rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, chose not to compete. She took part in the state’s primary instead.

So the only Republican on the ballot other than Trump was Ryan Binkley.

The former president has now won all three Republican state contests so far.

Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire. The candidates are now turning their attention to South Carolina.

But there are plenty of other events coming up as well.

February 27 is the Michigan presidential primary for both parties. Michigan is once again expected to be a key swing state in the general election.

Super Tuesday is coming up on March 5. More than a dozen states will hold contests that day.

Bill would require biological sex on IDs

A new piece of legislation, House Bill 1639, seeks to legally define the words of gender and sex in the state and for state IDs like to reflect a person’s sex at birth.

“It removes it from that subjective issue that is going on socially to something concrete medically,” said Rep. Douglas Bankson, the bill’s sponsor. “If someone were to be incapacitated or unable to communicate, it’s important for first responders for when seconds matter to know the underlining characteristics of their physiology.”

As the bill makes its way through committee meetings, the director of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles released a memo saying Floridians can no longer change or update their gender on Florida driver licenses. The memo says that gender change is not supported by current statutory authority and says in part, “The term gender does not refer to a persons internal sense or his or hers gender role or identification — but has historically and commonly been understood as a synonym for sex.”

The memo and the bill are seen by some within the LGBTQ+ community as discriminatory. Ashley T. Brundage, a local advocate for the transgender community, says these steps are nothing more than an attack on the LGBTQ+ community.

“Its not just a driver’s license — it’s correctly identifying someone’s actual identity,” Brundage said. “I mean, it is power to be able to know that you have a document that brings validity to your existence in this world.”

Brundage says these measures are simply a tool to create fear in the LGBTQ+ community.

“It just seems like another layer that we’re trying to scare people to not live in Florida and that’s the hard part for me,” Brundage said. “Living in Florida is what I’ve always known and I know it be a great place — it’s all about trying to get a marginalized identity groups to be scared to live in Florida and have them move somewhere else.” 

Despite these measures, Brundage says that you can still get your name changed and that it’s important to reach out to organizations that can help like the Southern Legal Council and changemyname.org.

Equality Florida put out a statement saying in part: “This cruel policy threatens transgender Floridians with civil and criminal penalties and blocks them from obtaining the critical government-issued identification necessary to continue their daily lives.”

The bill has more one more committee stop before it makes it to the House floor.