At a White House press conference on Monday, Biden administration press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about reporting that Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis was avoiding communication with Vice President Kamala Harris amid what will soon become a one-two punch of hurricanes for his state.
The first was Hurricane Helene, which became a tropical storm and left devastation across a slew of states. The second, the massively strong Hurricane Milton, is currently heading towards Florida.
“The good thing is the FEMA administration — administrator, pardon me, was able to connect with the governor yesterday,” said the secretary.
“I think that’s important. But, look, we’re going to — we’re going to do the work. We’re going to continue to talk to local and state officials. That is important as well. We’re going to pre-position as this hurricane, Hurricane Milton, is coming towards, as it seems, towards Florida. Category 5 — that’s nothing to joke about. That is very, very serious. And so, we’re taking this serious, as the president has done many, many times when we’ve seen these types of storms coming our way. So, we’re going to do our job, do our work here.”
DeSantis, in turn, questioned Harris trying to involve herself at all as she also continues her run for president, pitting her against Republican nominee Donald Trump… who has himself jumped in amid the unfolding storm fallout, visiting affected southeastern locales.
“I don’t have time for political games. I’ve got peoples whose lives are on the line. I’ve got peoples whose homes and their possessions are on the line, and we are focused 100 percent on that mission. I’m not worried about playing her political games. And so she is being selfish by trying to blunder into this, when we’re working just fine,” DeSantis claimed on Fox, as reported by The Hill.