Harris injecting himself into the relief process

Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis accused vice president Kamala Harris of “trying to inject himself” into Florida’s relief effort for his “political campaign” and defended the fact that he had not answered his calls, arguing that instead of “answering” the Democratic candidate – who had “never offered any support ” before – he was committed to his state.

On Tuesday, it emerged that the Republican governor was refusing calls from Harris after Hurricane Helene hit the state and days before Hurricane Milton made landfall.

DeSantis appeared on the CNBC program Scream box on Thursday to discuss recovery efforts now that Milton has passed away when the host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked him about what happened to Harris.

The governor responded, “I’m working with the President of the United States, I’m working with the director of FEMA, I’m organizing all my state assets. We’ve been doing this non-stop for over two weeks between Helene and this. And so, if there is something I can take advantage of to benefit my people, I will do it.”

He then pivoted to criticize Harris’ outreach in contrast to the president’s assistance Joe Biden and former president donald trumpwhich he said never “politicized” humanitarian aid by offering aid.

The fact is that they released a story saying that I didn’t answer (her calls). I didn’t even know she was trying to contact me, but she has no role in that process. And I’ve been dealing with these storms in Florida, both under Trump and under Biden. None of them ever politicized it. And in fact, every storm that I’ve dealt with in this administration, even though I’ve worked well with the president, (Harris) has never called Florida. She never offered any support.

So what she’s doing is trying to insert herself into this because of her political campaign. So as the governor here who is leading this, I don’t have time for these games. I don’t care about her campaign.

The governor added that he was working with those he needed to to provide the best outcome for Floridians.

Obviously, I’m not an advocate for her, but she has no role in this process. And so I’m working with the people I need to work with. We’re taking advantage of the resources I need to take advantage of. And for her to try to say that my focus should be on serving her instead of worrying about my own people, only for her to not understand what it means to respond to these natural disasters.

Watch above on CNBC.

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