The White House summoned Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a news conference Monday afternoon in response to reports that the Republican has refused to answer calls from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris about hurricane relief efforts.
“It’s up to him whether he wants to respond to us or not,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters with a shrug on Monday, confirming the reports.
‘We have invited the governor to come and investigate the damaged areas together with the president. It was clear that we were in Florida and we invited the governor of Florida to come. It was his decision not to attend or not to be present with the president,” Jean-Pierre said. “The President has contacted Hurricane Helene. He held out his hand. It’s up to the governor. It’s really up to the governor.”
Jean-Pierre noted that federal officials, including Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have nevertheless been in contact with state and local officials to assist with storm recovery efforts.
“We are going to do the work,” said Jean-Pierre. “We’re going to continue to talk to local and state officials, that’s also important, as we prepare for when Hurricane Milton heads toward Florida.”
DeSantis reportedly declined to talk to the vice president about hurricane relief in his state, less than a week after Hurricane Helene ravaged the area, while another powerful storm, Hurricane Milton, is likely to make landfall later this week.
“Kamala tried to reach out, but we didn’t respond,” a DeSantis aide told NBC News about Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. The aide added that the Republican governor shielded the calls because they “seemed political.”
When Biden visited Florida last week, DeSantis decided not to meet him either. The source told NBC they believed the two had not spoken on the phone, despite Biden’s attempts to call DeSantis last week.
The development comes as Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has spread baseless conspiracy theories and accused the federal government of failing to provide adequate storm relief. Last week, Trump claimed that Biden had not spoken to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) after Hurricane Helene. Both Biden and Kemp said that was not true.
