Biden praises DeSantis for cooperation a day after Harris groaned Florida government ignored her phone call after Helen

WASHINGTON — President Biden said Tuesday that Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “cooperated” with him as Hurricane Milton approached the Sunshine State — a day after Vice President Kamala Harris complained that DeSantis did not return her call.

“The Governor of Florida has been cooperative. He said he got everything he needed. I talked to him again yesterday,” Biden said at the White House before heading to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to campaign for Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.).

“I literally gave him my personal phone number so he could call,” Biden added of DeSantis. “So I don’t know — it was a rough start in some places, but every governor, every governor from Florida to North Carolina, has been fully cooperative and supportive and acknowledging what this team is doing.”

Biden warned that Milton “could be the strongest storm to hit Florida in more than a century” as the Category 4 hurricane crosses the Gulf of Mexico and makes landfall near Tampa Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Harris, 59, attacked DeSantis on Monday, accusing him of being “totally irresponsible” and “selfish” for not returning her call last week after Hurricane Helen made landfall Florida September 26.

“Moments of crisis, at the very least, should be the moment when anyone who calls themselves a leader says they’re going to put politics aside and put people first,” Harris said of DeSantis.

“People are desperate for support right now and playing political games with this moment in these crisis situations – this is the height of the emergency – is completely irresponsible and selfish and it’s about playing political games instead of doing the job that you do. took an oath to put people first.”

DeSantis fired back, saying he believed Harris was only trying to call him to intervene in a crisis less than a month before Election Day.

“My focus has not been on Kamala Harris,” DeSantis said on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning.

“I saw the news report – I didn’t know she was trying to contact me. But I would also say, “It’s not about you, Kamala, it’s about the people of Florida.” My focus is exactly where I need to be,” DeSantis said.

“I worked on these hurricanes under both President Trump and President Biden. None of them ever tried to politicize it. She’s never caused the storms we’ve had since she was vice president and apparently still does.

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“Why is she suddenly trying to parachute and inject herself when she never showed any interest before? We know it’s because of politics, we know it’s because of her campaign. I don’t have time to entertain these political games. We’re going to continue to do what we need to do to prepare for and respond to perhaps one of the most destructive storms in the history of the United States,” DeSantis continued.

“Harris is not even part of the chain of command. She doesn’t play any role in this. The idea that I should worry about her when I’m focused on the task at hand is just frankly absurd.

DeSantis added that federal officials had so far provided all the support needed ahead of the storm – following widespread criticism of a lack of initial preparedness for the damage Helen caused to western North Carolina.

“All our requests were granted,” the governor said. “We have mobilized all government resources available to us. It will be a very strong response, but it will cause a lot of damage, and we are preparing for that.”