Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) slammed a reporter Tuesday afternoon for apparently trying to politicize the hurricane that is anticipated to hit the state.
The question from the reporter comes after the White House dodged questions earlier in the day about why President Joe Biden (D) has not called the governor despite finding time to call several mayors in the state.
“FEMA Administrator [Deanne] Criswell said today that she acknowledged concerns that Florida [inaudible] lacks response to the storm so far and that–” the reporter began.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Give me a break,” DeSantis fired back. “That is nonsense. Stop politicizing, okay? Stop it. We declared a state of emergency when this thing wasn’t even formed.”
“We’ve had people in here, you’ve had counties doing, they’ve done a lot of hard work and honestly, you’re trying to attack me, I get, but like you’re attacking these other people who’ve worked very hard,” he continued. “And so that’s just totally false. I don’t think we’ve ever, certainly since I’ve been governor, declared a state emergency this early. We made sure that we were very inclusive with it. We said that there was a lot of uncertainty and then we’ve worked to make sure the preparations that have been done and all the stuff, you talk to the people at the counties, when they’ve needed something, stuff gets there very quickly because of what Kevin and his team have done.”
WATCH:
DeSantis hit at Biden during some of his remarks for not reaching out sooner despite finding time to call Mayor Jane Castor of Tampa, Mayor Ken Welch of St. Petersburg, and Mayor Frank Hibbard of Clearwater.
A reporter asked the governor how he would characterize his conversations with Biden as the hurricane prepares to make landfall.
“So I have not personally spoken with the president, but FEMA has approved our pre-landfall request,” DeSantis said.
“We feel like we have a good relationship with FEMA,” he continued. “You know, I’m happy to brief the president if he’s interested in hearing what we’re doing in Florida, you know, my view on all this is like you got people’s lives at stake, you got their property at stake, and we don’t have time for pettiness. We got to work together to make sure we’re doing the best job for them.”
“So, my phone — my phone line is open,” DeSantis concluded. “But we are — we do appreciate the quick approval of the pre-landfall declaration.”
The remarks from DeSantis come as the hurricane is strengthening while in the Gulf of Mexico and could make landfall as a category 4 hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center has warned that Ian is “an extremely dangerous major hurricane.”
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