>>This week on NewsNight, Central Florida's U.S. representatives weigh in on the recent chaos in Congress and what lies ahead for lawmakers.

We'll have a preview of a potential U.S. Supreme Court case involving Florida's big tech law.

Plus, a glimpse of Brightlines future station at Orlando International Airport as Universal files paperwork that could pave the way for a station in the Attractions area.

Newsnight starts now.

[MUSIC] Hello, I'm Steve Mort, and welcome to NewsNight where we take an in-depth look at the top stories and issues in central Florida and how they affect all of us.

We want to start tonight by talking with two congressmen from our region.

We tackle several issues, including the recent drama in electing the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, and former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaros stay here in central Florida.

First, let's hear from Republican Congressman Mike Waltz from Volusia County.

I started by asking him about the compromises made by McCarthy to win over the right wing of the Republican Party.

>>Transparency and input into the process is is always a good thing.

But does it make it more cumbersome?

Does it take longer?

Yeah, absolutely.

Because you have a lot of people who have a lot of opinions on where things should go.

And and we have debate.

We have input.

We put our ideas on the table and then we vote.

So I think just having to recognize if you don't win that vote, that we still have to move forward is is what is going to need to be fully adhered to and adopted by all.

>>Congressman, given the divisions in your caucus, can anything actually get done or is this all going to be about investigating the Biden administration?

>>You know, accountability is absolutely going to be part of it and transparency is going to be part of it.

Near and dear to my heart is accountability for the 13 Gold Star families from Afghanistan.

I think the entire country should want transparency on the origins of COVID.

I think we have bipartisan agreement on a lot of things as it pertains to big tech.

You know, some people may view it as just the political blocking of of Biden, but I view it as as an appropriate role for Congress to put to shed a light on some of these things.

And I don't think it's an either or.

Both accountability and putting an alternative agenda forward is we have to be able to do both.

>>Sure.

And I want to finish by mentioning the former Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, and what the Biden administration should do now, given that he's here in Orlando.

President Biden's invited President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva to Washington in a show of solidarity.

Is that enough or should President Biden revoke Bolsonaros visa now and send him back to Brazil, given the storming of Brazil's Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace on Sunday?

>>Yeah, I think we still have a lot to learn.

We don't know if this was purely a grassroots movement.

We don't know if if that riot in their capitol was instigated and in any way.

I mean, obviously, Bolsonaro wasn't there.

It happened.

It did not interfere with the transfer of power.

But at the same time, corruption in elections, particularly in South America, isnt something new.

And and, you know, has has happened, unfortunately, in a number of countries, in a number of elections.

I mean, look, Lula was in jail and many of his and many of his supporters are many of his opponents feel like he still should be.

So I think we have a lot to unpack here before we rush to judgment.

>>Congressman Mike Waltz there.

Well, next, let's hear from Democrat Darren Soto, who represents parts of Osceola and Orange County.

We also started by talking about what the rule changes in this Congress might mean for the legislative and budget process.

>>They've gone from PAYGO to cut go.

PAYGO is the more proper way to work the budget, which is either revenue enhancement or a cut to programs to fund other spending.

Now it just has to be a cut so they don't allow any revenue enhancement.

That's going to be an issue.

Also, not allowing bills to be combined together and the appropriations process process is really a blow to a functioning Congress because this place is all about compromise.

That's what our forefathers intended.

That's why there's 435 of us.

So getting these things done, like the National Defense Authorization Act, like the appropriations bill, is going to be very challenging if you can't combine bills together.

And what that essentially means is no bill does get passed and we end up in a continuing resolution which doesn't meet the nation's needs from our defense to economic development, environmental protection, health care, education, you name it.

So the net result, maybe more chaos and two years of continuing resolutions.

>>Let me move on, if I could, to talk about the former Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, who's staying in your district right now.

Should the U.S. remove him in the wake of the violence in Brasilia over the weekend?

>>So this is a matter of the Brazilian authorities and our immigration laws first.

If Brazil determines that former President Bolsonaro's criminally liable and wants extradite, the US needs to cooperate.

In addition, my understanding is he's under a diplomatic visa that expires in 30 days and would have to apply for some other visa after that.

There's even some question about whether he is still eligible to continue that diplomatic visa because he is no longer a government official.

So the State Department is looking into that seriously and we want this to play its course.

Certainly, Bolsonaro bears some moral responsibility to this violent insurrection.

I was in the chamber trapped during January six.

I know how bad it can get.

The question to be determined by the Brazilian courts and the Brazilian authorities is, does he bear legal responsibility?

Either way, I don't expect Mr. Bolsonaro to be here very long.

>>Congressman Darren Soto talking to me earlier this week.

Let's bring in our panel now to break it all down.

Joining us in the studio this week, Greg Angel, Spectrum News 13, Alexa Lorenzo from WFTV, Channel 9.

Thank you so much for coming in, guys.

I appreciate it.

Greg, let me start with you on this one in Congress.

I mean, Florida's congressional Republicans, led by Matt Gaetz, I guess, played a sort of an outsized role in that some would call a fiasco in Congress last week.

Who were the main protagonists there from our delegation?

>>Well, really, you've got those individuals who really represent, you know, the far right side of the Republican Party, the Freedom Caucus.

As you mentioned, Republican Matt Gaetz really kind of the ringleader, for lack of a better word.

But you also had others like Colorado's Lauren Boebert.

And ultimately, at the end of the day, what's interesting is they say that they got exactly what it is that they wanted.

Something to watch out of all the negotiations here, we saw, you know, 15 rounds of voting is the powers now in the rules package for one single member to be able to come forward and recall a House speaker.

It's going to be interesting to see how the powers delegated, what value of power the House speaker actually has.

But now you see the Republican Party trying to coalesce together as one.

You also saw Congresswoman Kat Cammack of northern central Florida get a bit of attention in her nominating process, you know, kind of, you know, prodding the Democrats.

But I it'll be interesting to see how the dust settles, which I don't think quite has just yet.

>>It certainly will, I mean, we heard that from Congressman Waltz sort of saying, well, we can do both oversight of the Biden administration and get our legislative agenda through.

But I mean, given those divisions and the sort of the handcuffs, if you like, on the speaker now is going to be pretty tricky for them.

>>Yeah, the restrictions on federal funding and federal spending, I should say, that's been a really hot process.

There's a lot of back and forth on whether or not this is going to potentially limit McCarthy's ability to negotiate government funding packages.

And you had one Republican vote against this legislation saying he's worried about the potential limits this is going to set with defense spending in such a tumultuous time with Russia and with China.

We're looking at that.

We're looking at addressing the federal debt that we have.

And if we don't do that, it could lead to a standoff.

It could lead to turmoil for the global economy.

So the money portion of this of what was agreed upon has been a real, real hot topic.

>>One of the most basic functions of government.

Right.

>>Right.

We've got that coming up in September.

And part of the argument that people are looking at, too, is how much is actually going to get done.

Is there going to be the intent among some lawmakers is simply just press the brakes on everything?

And also, how much are they going to push that's simply just there to rile the base, get headlines.

And that is the only mission of whatever legislation is filed.

>>Yeah.

Greg I mean, on the democratic side, we know the party in Florida is in trouble.

Manny Diaz has stepped down as leader of the Florida Democrats.

I mean, what was the sort of reason given there and what do you think this will mean for the democrats in Florida?

>>You know, he had a lengthy resignation letter.

>>Mm hmm.

>>Throwing out what I think a lot of Democratic insiders and supporters knew all along.

There was very little structure.

You know, in the last campaign.

I spoke with a number of local Democratic Party chairs and leaders as well as candidates.

And many of them said, where's the state party?

Where's the national party?

And those are issues that now former Dem chair Manny Diaz draw to, that there was just no structure, no transparency, no organization, no support system.

So many candidates and races were really left to fend for themselves.

It's going to be interesting who they select next.

And especially if Democrats, Republicans have more argument to say that Florida is a red state.

>>Yeah, and certainly it'll be interesting to see how sort of local leaders in the Democratic Party, particularly people like Representative Anna Eskamani, weigh into that whole decision making process about who leads the party.

Alexa, let's talk a bit about Jair Bolsonaro, shall we?

I mean, it seems unsurprising, right, that he's here.

He's got a lot of support among sort of the expatriate community.

What do we know about that significant Brazilian community here in central Florida and what Bolsonaro has been doing here?

>>It's been quite the sight to see.

Let's go beyond central Florida.

You've had people driving up from south Florida.

When they found out that he was staying at a Celebration home that belongs to mixed martial arts professional fighter, Aldo, a big supporter of him.

And this home that he's staying at has been kind of a sight for everyone.

And whether or not he comes out to take photos as he's done before with about 50 people, people are just like, Wow, he's in there, he's in there.

People are stopping on their Disney trips and a lot of people are watching him be at Publix.

We were just chatting about that.

Be at KFC, while there's significant turmoil playing out in Brazil and it's calling for President Biden's administration to expel him from the United States.

And he says that he is going to leave in late January.

He might move that up because of his health issues.

We saw him at his Advent Health Celebration from a 2018 stabbing some effects that it's been brought up from that.

So when he's going to leave, how he's going to leave, why he's going to leave.

That we just have to wait.

>>At the moment, we just don't know.

I mean.

>>He's called Trump of the tropics.

>>Trump of the tropics.

>>If you don't know much about, you know, Brazil politics and whatnot, you know, there's a reason why there are people coming up to try to get a glimpse of him.

But then also, you know, those who.

>>Yeah, I mean, there are domestic politics here at play is, as Alex alluded to there and as we heard from our interviews just now, I mean, Bolsonaro has strong support on the political right in Florida, especially those conservative Latin American communities, for example.

So in in Trump world.

But then you've got these Democrats, as Alexa said, who are sort of saying, well, you should send Bolsonaro back, you should you should revoke his visa.

I mean, this could be a fairly tricky political dance for the Biden administration.

>>And, you know, the politics I think the politics is what's really going to take over all of it.

You know, we heard from Congressman Darren Soto a short time ago, who probably gives the most level headed response in the sense of this is really a matter for Brazil.

You know, he's not done anything here in the states like them or not.

If there's a request for extradition, that is a matter for the DOJ and the other executive agencies to take up at that point.

But really, it's a matter for Brazil.

But I mean, the parallels to January six to what we saw, you know, not long ago in Brazil.

>>Fascinating stuff for sure.

Of course, we are recording the show on Thursday morning.

So a lot of things can change by air time.

And of course, a lot of Brazilian food and goods flow through Florida ports as well.

So it's a key issue for us here in our state.

Be sure to check out my full length interviews with Congressman Mike Waltz and Darren Soto on our website.

We talk to him much more depth about these issues and others, including classified documents found at a former Biden office.

It's all on our website, wucf.org/newsnight.

Okay.

Next tonight, the US Supreme Court could weigh in soon on Florida's 2021 big tech law, the legislation, which restricts the ability of social media companies to bar certain content from their platforms, was passed after Twitter banned Donald Trump's account, and conservatives claimed their viewpoints were being stifled.

Tech industry groups say Florida's law and a similar one in Texas violate the tech firms First Amendment rights.

Well, the battle over free speech and social media is playing out at Twitter itself.

Of course, since Elon Musk's acquisition of the company, Twitter has blocked several accounts viewed unfavorably by Musk, including one run by a UCF student that used publicly available information to track the Twitter CEO's private jet.

>>He said it was he was for freedom of speech and he said he wouldn't ban it because his commitment to free speech, he wanted to not ban it because of that.

And now here he goes doing that.

And, you know, he just banned other reporters about it.

He's banning, you know, talking about other social media platforms.

You can't do that.

So it's really not the town square.

He said he wanted it to be.

>>Of course, Elon Musk would respond that it's to do with personal security, of course, in that doxing issue.

Grant, let me start with you on this one and the freedom of speech issue.

I mean what are the stakes here?

Should the US Supreme Court decide to weigh in on Florida's law?

>>Well, I think the things to look at, first of all, the whole Elon Musk, Twitter, I think what it's showing is, you know, getting ahead of yourself in the sense of taking on things, making decisions before you even think things through.

On the flip side, you've got complicated in the sense of politicians are going after things like social media, big tech and Disney because it gets headlines.

And many of these issues are then challenged in court and eventually just kind of go away.

In this particular case, it's also important to remember, as we hear about the First Amendment, the First Amendment protects one's right to religion and freedom of speech from the government.

Big tech, Facebook, Twitter, these are private companies offering services, products.

So-- >>But they have their own First Amendment rights.

>>They absolutely do, because they have their protection from these state governments that want to come in and muzzle them.

They have a protection, again, of freedom of speech and content from the government.

Obviously, there are exceptions, to, to all of them.

You know, you can't yell bomb on a plane, you can't yell fire in a theater.

There are limitations.

But really, this is going to come down to a very clear divide, I think.

>>Yeah.

I mean, Governor DeSantis, Alexa, has sort of this tempestuous relationship, right, with with big tech.

I mean, remind us of the impetus for passing that 2021 big tech law in the first place.

>>From as early as we can recall, he's been talking about his distaste with these big tech companies for Deplatforming and shadow banning what he says are everyday conservatives and you'll remember he himself had a video taken down that roundtable when he was speaking with masks and it was removed for YouTube misinformation from YouTube.

So he saw what the company did on a firsthand basis for himself.

So he says that this law that he has put into place will lead to more free speech, not less, because he thinks that these companies are controlling the narrative and silencing people.

So in his eyes, this is free speech.

>>It's interesting to watch the governors because, I mean, he jumped to the defense of Twitter when when Elon Musk had that spat with with Apple.

He seems to be maybe coming round a little more since Elon Musk took over.

>>Well, now, because he likes some of what Elon Musk is doing, the fact that he's allowing back on it, it's also a societal question, too.

It's like, is it free speech?

And because people very much pick and choose and it's the fault of social media is they've not done a good job in regulating fact versus fiction either.

Arguably it's so easy to put anything on social media and, you know, folks take it you know, take it as fact.

>>Yeah, take it at face value.

>>So it it is still the Wild West.

>>Certainly a minefield for sure.

Well, if the Supreme Court decides that Florida's big tech law is unconstitutional, one winner could be Disney.

Disney Plus received a carve out, of course, from that law when it was implemented.

But that exemption was eliminated after last year's spat between Disney and the state over the company's opposition to the legislation.

Opponents called Don't say gay.

The fight over HB 1557 also prompted the legislature to abolish Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District.

And of course, this week came news about what might happen next.

And Alexa, I know you've been looking at this.

We're getting a clearer picture now about what the state might want to do about Reedy Creek when it gets dissolved in June.

What do we know?

>>Yeah, when the calendar flipped this year, everyone was saying, okay, June's around the corner.

What does this mean for the firefighters?

What does this mean for the taxes that are left on the table?

So now we know that legislation is coming down to create a state control board that was put out by Representative Fred Hawkins.

It was put out on Osceola County's website and it was everybody's kind of first glimpse at what is this and how it's going to work.

And they're saying that this bill will make sure that all of Reedy Creek's debts are paid off by the district, and they have about $700 million on the table in those municipal bonds.

So they've made it clear that they're going to take care of that.

And none of this is going to fall on the local county.

>>The local government.

That was a big debate when we heard when we saw the legislature.

>>Tax collector speaking out.

>>Yes.

It's like, okay, well, if the state is going to take away even trash collection and things like that, that's now going to go on the local counties.

And that's the thing with Reedy Creek right now.

They you know, it is the self-governing body who whose their base their base is Disney.

Disney takes up all the property there.

So, you know, even the shift of the debt obligation, it's kind of already there anyway.

>>Yeah, it'll be really interesting to see more details about it.

What about the the Reedy Creek employees, namely those sworn firefighters?

Right.

Do we know where they stand on this state control idea?

>>When this all first started happening, they were very worried about losing their benefits, what their life was going to look like.

But they very quickly saw Governor Ron DeSantis affinity toward first responders and how he values them, protects them, gives them bonuses.

So they're hoping this is good for them.

They're thinking we're going to stay on board and we're going to see some sort of change.

We have seen some reports come out that Disney has disputed saying that they are understaffed, they feel not valued, and they really believe that now they're going to get that support and that staffing that they so want.

>>And I think that's something worth highlighting, too.

I know you guys have covered it.

We've covered it extensively, you know, with the Reedy Creek Professional Firefighters union, something that they've been echoing not just this year but for years now about the understaffing, not having the resources, arguably saying that Walt Disney World Property has grown so much and buildings, infrastructure rides and people and the manpower hasn't kept up in how not only have they relied on orange County Fire Rescue and other mutual aid, but, you know, it wasn't that long ago we saw fire trucks driving up Main Street to deal with the fire.

>>Starliner.

>>Yeah, Starliner and things like that.

So I think those safety concerns feeling as though their concerns have fallen on deaf ears, is probably a big motivation.

Where they're using that influence to pressure Reedy Creek Of course, Will Disney fight this?

Will they file something in court?

What's their next move?

>>That's going to be really interesting to see.

Of course, this is quite interesting to me because just a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about reporting that suggested there was a potential U-turn by the state.

I mean, it certainly looks in this instance that that the governor DeSantis has decided to double down in his sort of conflict with Disney.

>>Well, and there's a lot of undercurrents happening behind the scenes as well, because publicly, the governor's office was very quickly to point out, No, no, no, no, the governor.

>>Doesn't do U-Turns.

>>Again.

I think they are very conscious about headlines and how things appear-- >>And how it's being disseminated to put it like that on the Osceola County website, I don't remember seeing that-- >>Very strategic.

And clearly I think they're trying to drum up attention.

And that was a story that was fed to Fox News by the governor's office.

But, you know, with some of that U-turn reporting was coming from Representative Randy Fine out of Brevard County, you know, was quoted as is saying, you know, now that Bob Chapek is gone from the in Bob Iger's back, well things have changed so it will be interesting they have face to save you know, who knows what kind of politicking is happening behind the scenes.

You know, obviously Disney wants to remain what Disney has been, but you've also got the powerful political influence that that, you know, wants to be seen as in charge.

And the legislature, they don't have Republicans don't have a majority anymore in Tallahassee.

They have a super majority.

So they have even more control in power now.

>>Yeah, that's right.

Well, it will be interesting to see what the legislature comes up with vis a vis Disney in the next session.

Be sure to join this conversation, by the way, on social media, were at WUCFTV on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

We always like to hear from you.

Right.

Finally tonight, a look at Brightlines vision for its station at Orlando International Airport.

Bright Line station at OIA was actually completed five years ago, but so far it's only been used by Terminal C shuttles.

Now with the company's train service from Orlando to Miami anticipated to start this year, work is underway on a station build out.

Brightline recently released renderings of how the station will look when it's ready to welcome passengers.

The station located at Terminal C will be more than 37,000 square feet, and Brightline claims it will revolutionize U.S. train travel.

All right.

Well, we have Alexa here, so we always like to talk to Alexa about bright line stuff, don't we?

What do you make of these renderings of the Brightline station, OIA and is work happening now?

>>Work is happening right now.

They're working seven days a week there.

This station is massive.

They can fit 600 passengers in the station.

And I was able to walk through about two months ago.

And the bones are there.

There is no fancy sign.

There is no incredible lighting yet.

The bones are there, the layouts there.

And they're working really hard on this.

Are they behind?

Absolutely.

This was supposed to be done the station there in 2022.

Now it's looking like early 2023 first quarter-ish.

They're dealing with the same thing.

Everyone else is dealing with some staffing shortages, supply chain crisis, but the ball is rolling and the station will be very beautiful.

>>On the sunshine corridor, kind of writ large, Greg, I mean, Universal took an important step recently towards developing the station for Brightline and Sunrail at the convention center.

What do we know about that new development?

>>Well, Universal has been saying that they want to work with others and essentially create a special district that will fully fund and set up a station at the Orange County Convention Center.

What's interesting about this and it would have connection with Sunrail and things like that with Brightline, the mayor and others have said that Sunrail is going to have to expand to 24/7, or seven days a week and holidays, which has been a big criticism of Sunrail.

But Bright line seems to be the catalyst for the change.

Orange County Convention Center, where they are located is right across the street from the New Epic Universe plot of land.

So it's going to be well connected.

And if you remember in some of the original reporting that we had Brightline, there was a deal with Disney to open up a Disney Springs shop station there.

They have essentially picked up their ball and went home.

So it's going to be interesting.

Even though Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings has questioned Universal's processing and transparency, he says about this station, I think it's been welcomed with a lot of fanfare.

It's being pushed as, hey, it's not good only for tourists, but workers will be able to get around easier.

It will be interesting to see long term.

Does Disney come back into play?

>>Well, Brightline has already said Brightline cares about Brightline no offense.

They're going to put a stop if they can as close to Disney close while being on Orange County land that doesn't belong to Disney.

>>Exactly and so with that the closer or the more you're on Disney property, the less logistics of cars and minivans and things like that.

>>Yeah, well, a lot is going to depend, of course, about on how much federal and state support comes in for this project.

But that is all the time we have for this week, I'm afraid.

My thanks to Alexa Lorenzo, WFTV, Channel 9, Greg Angel from Spectrum News 13.

Thank you both so much for coming in.

Appreciate it.

Well see you next Friday night at 8:30 here on WUCF.

In the meantime, from all of us here at NewsNight, take care and have a great week.

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