Vice President Kamala Harris Monday criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for “playing political games,” following reports of him refusing to take her call over hurricane relief, while DeSantis later attacked the Democratic candidate, saying she was “trying to politicize the storm,” as Florida braces for its second major hurricane in two weeks.
US Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to media members before ... [+]
Earlier on Monday, NBC News reported DeSantis was refusing to take Harris’ calls about recovery efforts just a week after Hurricane Helene struck the state’s Big Bend region.
When asked to comment on the report while leaving from New York from Joint Base Andrews, Harris did not deny it and said people were in “desperate need of support right now and playing political games at this moment in these crisis situations…is just utterly irresponsible.”
Without naming DeSantis, the vice president added: “It is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do.”
When asked to comment, DeSantis first told reporters he was unaware of Harris trying to reach him and added “I’m not sure who they called. They didn’t call me.”
Later, however, DeSantis appeared on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s primetime show and attacked Harris, saying he has dealt with several storms under the Biden administration and “she’s never contributed to any of these efforts.”
DeSantis said he is in contact with the president and the FEMA director, and added: “She has no role in this…She’s the first one who is trying to politicize the storm. And she’s doing that just because of her campaign.”
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