Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shredded Vice President Kamala Harris after she called him “selfish” for allegedly ignoring her calls, calling her out for “politicizing” an emergency to score points for her campaign.
DeSantis slammed her “delusional” take during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday as he coordinates efforts ahead of a monster hurricane.
Harris accused the Republican governor of playing “political games” by reportedly not taking her phone calls after reports cited unnamed aides who claimed Harris’s calls seemed political. DeSantis has been getting his state through Hurricane Helene, a deadly Category 4 storm that hit Florida’s Gulf Coast and now is preparing for another major hit by Hurricane Milton, expected to make landfall near Tampa late Wednesday.
“People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games at this moment in these crisis situations…is just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish,” Harris complained to reporters Monday after she made sure to call out “misinformation” about federal help allegedly coming from former President Donald Trump.
“It is about political gamesmanship, instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first,” she said of the governor who was, ironically, doing just that.
“[F]or Kamala Harris, to try to say that my sole focus on the people of Florida is somehow selfish is delusional,” DeSantis said on “Hannity” Monday.
“She has no role in this. In fact, she’s been vice president for three-and-a-half years, I’ve dealt with a number of storms under this administration. She has never contributed anything to any of these efforts,” he said.
“So what I think is selfish – trying to blunder into this …she has no role – she has no role in this process,” the governor added. “I’m in contact with the president of the United States. I’m in contact with FEMA director. I’m obviously managing all our state agencies. We’re supporting our local government, and I will say this: I had storms under both President Trump and President Biden, and I work well with both of them.”
“She’s the first one who’s trying to politicize the storm and she’s doing that just because of her campaign,” he noted.
“She’s trying to get some type of an edge. She knows she is doing poorly. And so she is playing these political games,” DeSantis accused. “I don’t have time for political games. I’ve got people whose lives are on the line. I’ve got people whose homes and their possessions are on the line. And we are focused 100% on that mission. I’m not worried about playing her political games. She is being selfish by trying to blunder into this when we’re working just fine.”
DeSantis was asked about Harris’s calls during a press conference on Monday, responding that he was not aware of her trying to reach him.
“I didn’t know that she had called. I’m not sure who they called. They didn’t call me,” he said. “It wasn’t anything that anybody in my office did, in terms of saying it was political.”
“I didn’t know that she had called,” he reiterated when asked about reports from NBC and later ABC News that the former GOP presidential candidate was ignoring the VP.
Here is the clip of Ron DeSantis categorically denying the report from @ABC that he ignored a call from Kamala Harris. pic.twitter.com/zfH7yDXtdM
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) October 7, 2024
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also took a shot at the governor during a press briefing and the clip was amplified by the Harris campaign, even while insisting there is nothing political.
Q: We’re learning that DeSantis refused to take a call
Press Sec. @K_JeanPierre: That is something for the governor to speak to himself. If you have the president and the vice president reaching out to offer up assistance, that’s for the governor if he wants to respond to us or… pic.twitter.com/u6pxBSddeC
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 7, 2024
Amid the accusations and “reports,” the White House noted that President Joe BIden had spoken with DeSantis and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor “to get a firsthand report on recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene, and to discuss preparations for Hurricane Milton.”
The president reportedly asked the Florida leaders to “call him directly if there is anything that can be done to further support the response and recovery efforts.”
DeSantis addressed the federal response to the emergency during a news conference, saying that “we have gotten what we need from the feds….the president has approved what we asked for….I’m thankful for that.”
“Everything we’ve asked for from President Biden, he’s approved,” DeSantis said.
