President Joe Biden praised GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for being “cooperative” and doing a “great job” in his response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, despite Vice President Kamala Harris slamming DeSantis for “playing political games” instead of doing his job in response to the storms.
NBC News reported Monday that DeSantis was denying phone calls from Harris’ team. “People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games with this moment, in these crisis situations, these are the height of emergency situations, it’s just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish,” Harris told reporters Monday.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, President Joe Biden’s opinion about the GOP Florida governor’s response to Hurricane Helene and his preparation for Milton, diverged substantially from that of his vice president’s.
“The governor of Florida has been cooperative. He said he’s gotten all that he needs. I talked to him again yesterday, and I said – no – you’re doing a great job, it’s all being done well and we thank you for it,” Biden said at a press conference from the White House Tuesday. “There was a rough start in some places, but every governor, every governor – from Florida to North Carolina – has been fully cooperative and supportive.”
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After a DeSantis staffer told NBC on Monday that the Florida governor had chosen not to take the vice president’s call, DeSantis later clarified that he was never even aware Harris was trying to contact him.
DeSantis also shot back at Harris’ claims that he was playing politics with the storm, accusing her of being the actual culprit of engaging in political gamesmanship.
“I’ve worked on these hurricanes under both President Trump and President Biden. Neither of them ever tried to politicize it. She has never called on any of the storms we’ve had since she’s been vice president until apparently now,” DeSantis told “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning following reports of the vice president’s criticism. “Why, all of the sudden, is she trying to parachute in and inject herself when she’s never shown any interest in the past? We know it’s because of politics, we know it’s because of her campaign.”
“Harris is not even in the chain of command. She has no role in this,” DeSantis added. “The idea that I should be, like, worrying about her when I’m focused on the task at hand is just quite frankly absurd.”
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Biden, who has had multiple phone calls with DeSantis since Hurricane Helene began barreling down on the Southeast, told him and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor to “call him directly” if any further support is needed. DeSantis, meanwhile, noted Tuesday morning that “every” one of his federal requests for more support have been answered.
DeSantis pointed out as well that, at the state level, he has been reallocating resources as necessary to help Florida’s smaller communities that have fewer resources.
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Gov. DeSantis’ office declined to comment to Fox News Digital on the record, but pointed to the governor’s comments on both “Fox & Friends” and “Hannity,” respectively. Fox News Digital also reached out to the Harris campaign for comment, but did not receive a response in advance of publication time.
As Florida continues to clean up the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, it is now preparing for a potentially even worse storm in Hurricane Milton and is calling on millions of residents to evacuate.
“Helene was a wake-up call – this is literally catastrophic,” Castor said Tuesday. “And I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die.”
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