As Florida Braces for Hurricane Milton Governor Ron DeSantis Blasts Kamala Harris “Why is she putting her campaign ahead of the well-being of the people of Florida?” (Video)

As Florida prepares for Hurricane Milton and parts of the state are still grappling with the aftermath of Helene, Kamala Harris chose a crisis to launch a political attack on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

On Monday, she blasted DeSantis and accused him of  “playing political games” after he reportedly did not take her phone calls to discuss hurricane relief.

Harris told reporters before departing to New York, a state NOT grappling with disaster, “Playing political games at this moment in these crisis situations — these are the height of emergency situations — is just utterly irresponsible and it is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship.”

Harris appeared to be responding to an unconfirmed accusation from NBC News that DeSantis was not taking Harris’ calls regarding storm recovery,

Harris added,  “Moments of crisis if nothing else, should be the moment that anyone who calls himself a leader says they’re going to put politics aside and put the people first.”

DeSantis, however, told reporters that he saw the reports but was unaware that Harris was trying to reach him.

DeSantis appeared on Fox News with Sean Hannity and blasted Harris for selfishly focusing on her political agenda and putting her presidential campaign ahead of the people of Florida.

Sean Hannity: Joining us now, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is with us on the latest on preparation. All right. I saw the statement from your office. Number one, you did not hear about a call from Kamala. You would have taken the call, you said. I had you on my radio and TV show before Helene hit, you told me, and I had Governor Kemp on, and he told me, in your case, you had 30,000 utility trucks staged to go in right after the hurricane. You had food, water, medicine, supplies ready to go right in behind the hurricane as usual. I’m assuming you have the same thing for Milton. Am I wrong, governor?

Governor Ron DeSantis: No, you’re right. Hurricane Helene was a Category 4 storm. It did significant damage to the state of Florida. We’ve been on this footing now for two weeks straight in terms of preparation response. Now we have an even bigger storm that’s bearing down, as you pointed out, in a very populated area, potentially could do even more damage and we’ve been laser-focused focus on leveraging all resources available, including from the federal government. I’ve been in touch with both FEMA and the President, as well as marshaling all our state agencies and working to support our local communities.

And so for Kamala Harris to try to say that my sole focus on the people of Florida is somehow selfish is delusional.

She has no role in this. In fact, she’s been vice president for three and a half years. I’ve dealt with a number of storms under this administration, she has never contributed anything to any of these efforts. What I think is selfish Is her trying to blunder into this.

Sean Hannity: Has she ever called before?

Governor Ron DeSantis: No. Here’s the thing. She has no role. No, she has no role in this process. I’m in contact with the President of the United States.I’m in contact with FEMA Director. I’m obviously managing all our state agencies. We’re supporting all our local government.

I will say this, I’ve had storms under both President Trump and President Biden, and I’ve worked well with both of them.

She’s the first one who’s trying to politicize the storm, and she’s doing that just because of her campaign.

She’s trying to get some type of an edge. She knows she’s doing poorly, and so she’s playing these political games.

I don’t have time for political games. I’ve got people whose lives are on the line. I’ve got people whose homes and their possessions are on the line, and we are focused 100% 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.

Sean Hannity: You had properly staged. You are ready for Milton. You have all the utility trucks, you have food, you have water, you have supplies, all staged, all ready to come in right behind the hurricane, as you always do. Governor Kemp, same thing. Governor McMaster, same thing.

They have been missing in action. It took FEMA nearly an entire week to get to the people of North Carolina, and we still don’t know the death count in North Carolina.

It is the worst, to me, response ever in the history of hurricanes in this country, governor. For her to be going on a Stern, Colbert, The View, Call Me Daddy, instead of being in North Carolina is unconscionable.

Governor DeSantis: Well, I’ll tell you this, Sean, we’re going to handle this incoming storm. It is right now much more powerful than what Helene was. We’ll see, they say it’s going to weaken before it hits, but we can’t assume that. This has the potential to be one of the most damaging storms in the history of our country.

Can we not just focus on the livelihoods and the well-being of the people?

Why is she trying to politicize this?

Why is she putting her campaign ahead of the well-being of the people of Florida?

We’re laser-focused on their well-being. This is going to be a massive effort. There’s going to be things we’re going to have to respond to that we’ve probably never had to respond in this kind in the history of our state. We’re going to do it, and we’re going to keep our eye on the ball, and we’re not going to let her nonsense distract us from the task at hand.

Watch:

Tonight, I spoke with Sean Hannity about Florida’s preparedness for Hurricane Milton. pic.twitter.com/fqvkfwkkdI

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 8, 2024