CENTRAL FLORIDA — Central Florida lawmakers and leaders are reacting to the chaos in Washington D.C. as electors worked to certify President-Elect Joe Biden's presidency.

What You Need To Know

  • Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings recalls how he couldn’t get in touch with wife U.S. Rep. Val Demings

  • Val Demings, others call for President Trump’s impeachment

  • Republican, Democratic leaders want protesters to be prosecuted

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said protesters barging into the Capitol building should have never happened, calling it a failure on law enforcement's part.

Mayor Demings says that his wife U.S. Rep. Val Demings was inside the Capitol building as the chaos started.

Mayor Demings said there was a point where he could not get in touch with her and his family did not know if she was safe or not.​

"To put it bluntly, what happened there was disappointing as hell for me," Mayor Demings said.

Demings said his wife was ordered to get on the floor and wear a gas mask and was eventually evacuated by armed officers.

As both of them are former law enforcement leaders in Central Florida, Demings feels Wednesday's events show major vulnerabilities in security.

"She felt that there were colleagues, including the president, helped to incite the circumstances that unfolded, and I think that attitude is shared by many Americans," Mayor Demings said.

Central Florida U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy also shared with Spectrum News 13 that she and her staff are safe. 

"I'm just heartbroken about what happened today. I believe that our country is better than this, and at the very least, our leaders should be," Murphy.

Central Florida U.S. Rep. Darren Soto has also condemned Wednesday's protests.

"This was an act of treachery, of treason, of terrorism, and we will have to view this over an investigation over the next couple of weeks," Soto told Spectrum News 13.

On the other side of the aisle, Florida Republican U.S. Marco Rubio said other countries are watching the chaos unfolding in our democracy. 

"I think politics has made us crazy. Everybody in this country has lost their minds on politics. And we have forgotten that America is not a government. American is not president. America is not a congress. Let me tell you what America is, America is your family. America is your faith. America is your community," Rubio said.

Florida’s former governor and current Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott had strong words for the protesters who stormed the Capitol, calling them "thugs," and saying every single one of them should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Congresswoman Demings said Trump is responsible for his role in what happened, and she is calling for an impeachment and criminal charges.