Florida Governor Ron DeSantis firmly rejected reports claiming he had denied a phone call from Kamala Harris ahead of Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall.
On Monday, ABC News reported, citing a “source close to the governor,” that DeSantis had refused to take a call from Harris regarding the impending storm.
Harris was asked about the situation while boarding a plane on Monday and responded by criticizing the governor. “You know, moments of crisis, if nothing else, should really be the moment that anyone who calls themselves a leader, says they’re going to put politics aside and put the people first,” she said. “People are in desperate need of support right now. And 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.”
A few hours later, Governor DeSantis addressed the issue during a press conference and categorically denied receiving any call from Harris. “No, I didn’t know she called me. I saw [the report], but I was not aware of that,” DeSantis said.
He explained that while he had communicated with Joe Biden during the response to Hurricane Helene, he had not received any further calls from the president or the vice president since then.
“So Biden called me a couple of days ago with Helene when I was on the helicopter. I didn’t have any issues. They had helped us with what we’ve done. I’m not aware that he’s tried to call since then. Certainly hasn’t called my phone, so I don’t know quite where they’re getting that information,” DeSantis said in response to ABC News’ insinuation that he was also dodging calls from Joe Biden.
