Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Monday he “was not aware” of post-Hurricane Helene calls from Vice President Harris after multiple reports emerged that he dodged them.
“I didn’t know she called me. … I was not aware of that,” the Florida governor said at a Hurricane Milton-focused press conference.
According to NBC News, who reported on the matter first, a source said that the reason behind the Florida governor not picking up the phone was that, per an aide for DeSantis, the calls “seemed political.” The aide also said Harris “was trying to reach out, and we didn’t answer,” and that DeSantis and President Biden talking was “not to my knowledge.”
“The president has approved what we asked for. We’re thankful for that. If there’s something we need that they don’t approve, I will not hesitate to call him. … But everything we’ve asked for, from President Biden, he has approved,” DeSantis said in response to being asked about talking with Biden at the Monday press conference.
The White House later directed The Hill to a statement in a pool report that said Biden “had separate calls with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor to get a firsthand report on recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene, and to discuss preparations for Hurricane Milton” late Monday.
Harris was asked Monday afternoon about DeSantis reportedly turning down her calls, to which she responded that “playing political games with this moment, in these crisis situation[s], these are the height of emergency situation[s], [is] utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.”
CNN also reported that an official for the White House said that following Helene’s Florida landfall, Harris had tried on numerous occasions to get in contact with DeSantis and he had not picked up the phone.
When asked by a reporter Monday about the Florida governor declining “a call from Vice President Harris specifically around Hurricane Milton,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the choice “to respond” is his.
“Look, that is something for the governor to speak to himself,” Jean-Pierre said. “If you have the president, and you have the vice president, reaching out to offer up assistance, provided to … your constituents, the people who live in your state, to make sure we are doing everything that we need to do from a federal response, and we’re reaching out, offering our support, that’s for the governor.”
“The governor … it’s up for — to him, if he wants to respond to us or not,” she added.
The Hill has reached out to the White House, the vice president’s office and DeSantis’s communications office for comment.
Updated at 10:58 p.m. EDT