Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is under scrutiny for allegedly ignoring phone calls from Vice President Kamala Harris. Both the White House and Harris claim he’s refused to return her calls. However, DeSantis’s response suggests the situation might be a misunderstanding.
White House and Harris Say DeSantis Ignored Her; He Says He Didn’t Know She Called
Both Vice President Kamala Harris and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre have criticized Ron DeSantis for allegedly refusing to take the vice president’s phone calls concerning Hurricane Milton.
Jean-Pierre was quoted as saying:
“It’s up to him if he wants to respond to us or not. But what we’re doing is we’re working with state and local officials to make sure we are ready to be there for the communities that are going to be impacted. We are doing the job.”
Speaking with CNN, Vice President Harris stated:
“You know, moments of crisis, if nothing else, should be the moment that anyone who calls themselves a leader says they’re going to put politics aside and people first. People are in desperate need of support right now, and playing political games at this moment in these crisis situations, the height of emergency situations, is just utterly irresponsible. It’s selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing a job you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.”
Notably, both Harris and Jean-Pierre insinuated that the rumors about DeSantis were true without outright confirming them.
In response to a reporter asking about allegations that he didn’t accept a call from the vice president, Governor DeSantis stated:
“I didn’t know she called me. I saw that, but I wasn’t aware of that.”
DeSantis went on to address whether he’d spoken to the president:
“The president has approved what we asked for. We’re thankful for that. If there’s something we need that they won’t approve of, I won’t hesitate to call him. We want to use whatever resources are available to help Floridians prepare and respond to this storm. But everything we’ve asked for from President Biden, he has approved, and we do think we’ll get more approvals for some of the individual assistance and debris removal after landfall.”
DeSantis’s reasoning seems to be that the federal government has already agreed to do its part, and he’ll reach out if he needs anything.
