Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is not taking calls from Vice President Kamala Harris about storm restoration simply over every week after Hurricane Helene hammered elements of his state.
A supply acquainted with the scenario mentioned he was dodging the Democratic presidential nominee’s calls as a result of they “seemed political,” in accordance to a DeSantis aide.
“Kamala was trying to reach out, and we didn’t answer,” the DeSantis aide instructed NBC News.
The similar individual mentioned “not to my knowledge” when requested if DeSantis had spoken to President Joe Biden.
Last week, DeSantis mentioned Biden had known as him, however he was flying on the time so couldn't take the decision. Biden was in north Florida final week to survey storm harm, however DeSantis was holding a information press convention that had already been scheduled in one other a part of the state so they didn't meet. A supply acquainted with the planning mentioned that the Biden group had invited DeSantis to the occasion in north Florida.
DeSantis has been in direct contact with Federal Emergency Management Director Deanne Criswell.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was requested about NBC News' report on Monday afternoon and whether or not politics was seeping into the hurricane response.
“That's really for the governor to speak to, right?” she replied, saying that the White House invited DeSantis to survey the storm harm with Biden.
“It was his decision…to not attend or not be there with the president. … It is up to him,” she added. “We are doing our part, in the Biden-Harris administration, working — obviously FEMA is work — is on the ground, all hands on deck, whole of government. Robust approach here. And so, again, that's for Gov. DeSantis to speak to.”
Hurricane Helene made landfall on Florida’s Big Bend area on Sept. 27, devastating among the state’s rural north Florida counties and swamping cities alongside the Gulf Coast with storm surge. Many of these cities, together with the closely populated Tampa area, are nonetheless dealing with vital flood harm and particles elimination.
After landfall, remnants of Helene continued to lower a path by the Southeast, leaving greater than 200 useless and swamping the area, together with historic flooding in western North Carolina.
In Helene’s instant aftermath, DeSantis mentioned that “we have it handled” in reference to storm cleanup and that the federal authorities ought to concentrate on North Carolina.
Other governors have supplied extra reward for the federal response, with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp saying he had spoken to Biden and thanked him for the assistance, and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, additionally a Republican, saying it had been “superb.”
In what he dubbed Operation Blue Ridge, DeSantis additionally despatched Florida sources to North Carolina, together with members of the Florida National Guard and officers from a number of state companies.
Over the weekend, DeSantis mentioned these belongings are actually returning to Florida because the state expects a midweek landfall of Hurricane Milton, a serious storm that is anticipated to have an effect on big swaths of the state, together with coastal cities flooded by Hurricane Helene.
That storm is anticipated to make landfall within the central portion of Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday.
Two different officers with DeSantis’ workplace mentioned that up to now, there was no effort by Biden to attain out to the governor on Hurricane Milton.
Former President Donald Trump has talked about Hurricane Helene at size, and at instances in overt political phrases — together with pushing false data. At one level he claimed on social media {that a} photograph Harris had posted on social media getting a storm briefing was “FAKE and STAGED.”
Trump visited Georgia within the days after the storm and appeared at an occasion with Kemp. He additionally launched a GoFundMe to assist organizations doing reduction work within the area.
Gabe Gutierrez contributed.
