President Joe Biden hadn’t been briefed about a back-and-forth between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vice President Kamala Harris over hurricane recovery before he praised him as “gracious” in a news conference Wednesday, a source familiar with the situation said.
It was first reported on Monday that Harris tried to call DeSantis about Hurricane Helene’s effects on Florida but was turned down.
Harris was accused by DeSantis of trying to “politicise the storm.” Harris said that he was “selfish” and “completely irresponsible.” The fight made the news for several days.
Biden gave a widely watched speech on TV on Wednesday telling people about the terrible effects that Hurricane Milton, which started hitting Florida’s coast Wednesday night, could have.
The reporter then asked Biden if DeSantis should answer the phone for Harris. He said nice things about DeSantis instead of answering the question directly.
“All I can say is that I spoke with Gov. DeSantis.” “He is been very kind,” Biden said. “He thanked me for everything we did.” He knows what we are up to. That is important to me.
In his speech on Wednesday, Biden stressed how dangerous Milton was for Florida.
“Up to 120 miles per hour winds are coming from Milton,” he said. “But nobody should be lost.” Still, it looks like this will be one of the strongest and most destructive storms to hit Florida in more than one hundred years.
Biden also slammed people who have spread false information and conspiracy theories about Hurricane Helene. He named former President Donald Trump by name.
Biden’s words about DeSantis were different from what Harris had said about him.
Harris said on Monday, “If nothing else, times of crisis should be the times when leaders say they will put politics aside and put the people first.”
“Right now, people need help so badly that playing political games with this moment is just plain selfish and irresponsible. We are in the middle of a crisis.”
Biden did not leave out a comment about her because he supported Harris as the Democratic nominee to run against him when he stepped down from the nomination on July 21.
This was not meant as an insult to Harris. A person with knowledge of the situation said that Biden had not been told about how Harris and DeSantis were getting along.
The source said that Biden was “focused on the response itself” and not keeping track of a specific back-and-forth. The person could talk about the matter without being identified.
This week, DeSantis criticised Harris on Fox News, saying that it was she who was trying to bring politics into the recovery.
It was rough for him under both Trump and Biden, but he said, “I have worked well with both of them.” The first person to try to make the storm political is her, and she is only doing that for her campaign. That is not something I have time for.