A frustrated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lashed out at Vice President Kamala Harris this week after she criticized his handling of hurricanes Helene and Milton while also claiming he refused to take her phone call.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, DeSantis spoke to CNBC\u2019s Andrew Ross Sorkin about the situation, during which he ripped Harris for what he perceived as a blatant attempt to politicize the storms and boost her campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t even know she was trying to reach me, but she has no role in this process, and I\u2019ve been dealing with these storms in Florida under both Trump and Biden. Neither of them ever politicized it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd, in fact, all the storms I\u2019ve dealt with under this administration \u2013 although I\u2019ve worked well with [President Biden] \u2013 she has never called in Florida. She has never offered any support.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, what she\u2019s doing is she\u2019s trying to inject herself into this because of her political campaign,\u201d he continued, noting he\u2019s busy trying to save lives. \u201cI don\u2019t have time for those games.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in contact with the president of the United States. I\u2019m in contact with the FEMA director, I\u2019m obviously managing all of our state agencies, we\u2019re supporting all our local government,\u201d DeSantis earlier told a news conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s the first one who\u2019s trying to politicize the storm, and she\u2019s doing that just because of her campaign. I don\u2019t have time for political games. I\u2019ve got people whose lives are on the line, I\u2019ve got people whose homes and possessions are on the line, and we are focused 100% on that mission,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Biden threw his vice president under a bus \u2014 figuratively speaking \u2014 during a press conference on Thursday as Hurricane Milton bore down on Florida, the second major storm in as many weeks after Harris was critical of DeSantis. Biden praised the Republican leader and said he was doing a \u201cgreat job\u201d preparing for Milton.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe governor of Florida has been cooperative. He said he\u2019s gotten all that he needs. I talked to him again yesterday and I said, \u2018No, you\u2019re doing a great job. It\u2019s being, all being done well. We thank you for it,\u2019\u201d said Biden.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery governor, every governor from Florida to North Carolina has been fully cooperative and supportive and acknowledged what this team is doing. And they\u2019re doing an incredible job. We\u2019ve got a lot more to do,\u201d Biden noted further.<\/p>\n
During an interview on Fox & Friends on Tuesday, the Florida governor further addressed Harris\u2019 accusations against him for \u201cnot putting politics aside\u201d and \u201cplaying political games with this moment in these crisis situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe should look in the mirror. We have been on an emergency footing for two weeks straight, around the clock, 24\/7. We have been working. My office, our division of emergency management, is helping people prepare for Hurricane Helene and helping effectuate rescues of people after Hurricane Helene,\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelping people pick up the pieces of their lives after Helene and then have to also turn around and prepare for major impacts and maybe even more impacts from Hurricane Milton, be able to have rescue personnel ready to help people and then, of course, help with the power restoration, all these things to do. So that\u2019s been my sole focus,\u201d DeSantis continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy focus has not been on dealing with Kamala Harris. I saw the news report, I didn\u2019t know she tried to contact me. But I would also say it\u2019s not about you, Kamala it\u2019s about the people of Florida. My focus is where it should be. I can tell you this I have worked on hurricanes under President Trump and President Biden. Neither of them ever tried to politicize it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A frustrated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lashed out at Vice President Kamala Harris this week after she criticized his handling of hurricanes Helene and Milton while also… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n