On 9/27/2022, The White House dodged questions on whether President Joe Biden has spoken with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of Hurricane Ian’s impending landfall.
Joe Biden called the mayors of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater to discuss Hurricane Ian. However, according to the FEMA manager, Joe Biden has not spoken to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Biden instead spoke with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch and Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard. Castor and Welch are Democrats, while Hibbard is a Republican. DeSantis is a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate and has frequently criticized Biden’s performance.
White House Press Secretary Karine-Jean-Pierre confirmed Joe Biden has not called Ron DeSantis, she said at her regular press briefing that Biden “held separate calls” with the mayors and “discussed planning and preparation for Hurricane Ian.” Yet Joe Biden won’t be speaking with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis about the federal government’s response efforts. Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, joined Biden for his calls with the mayors and Criswell said Biden delegated to her the responsibility of liaising with DeSantis. Criswell was repeatedly asked why Joe Biden hasn’t called Ron DeSantis. Criswell confirmed that she’s the one who called DeSantis to discuss Hurricane Ian. “The president directed me to contact the governor early on before we even did the declaration. I did that,” she said. “My regional administrator is with the governor right now making sure that we’re understanding what the needs are and our focus is on the current life safety needs.”
“In the past, President Biden has made calls to [Republican] governors in situations like natural disasters, [such as] Kay Ivey in Alabama, Asa Hutchinson in Arkansas or the governor in Texas,” a reporter asked FEMA chief Deanne Criswell who was standing alongside White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “Can you articulate how these determinations are made and why it hasn’t been made in this case to have the president call the governor?”
In response, Criswell did not say whether Biden, a Democrat, has spoken with DeSantis, a Republican ahead of Ian’s landfall. The FEMA head said that she has spoken with DeSantis and her team is in contact constantly with the governor, “The president is very focused on making sure the federal family has the right resources to support this,” Criswell told reporters. “That is why I contacted the governor right away, and we have a team of my senior leadership embedded with the governor to make sure that we’re supporting that.”
Criswell said the “focus today” will be “making sure that we have the right measures in place to support the lifesaving activities that need to happen.” “Again, we have a strong team that’s in place supporting the governor right now,” Criswell also said in response to another question about whether Biden has spoken to DeSantis. When pressed by reporters about whether Biden was allowing politics to impede federal assistance, Criswell said, “We do not bring politics into our ability to respond to these disasters. “We are going to support whatever Gov. DeSantis asks of us.”
When reporters noted the lack of a call between Biden and DeSantis, neither Jean-Pierre nor FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell could give a concrete answer as to why a call had not taken place despite federal officials approving Florida’s emergency declaration and staging supplies and personnel nearby in neighboring states.
On 9/27/2022, Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar suggested that voting for Democrats will somehow stop hurricanes, during a segment on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, and Willie Geist.
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Biden calls 3 Florida mayors but not DeSantis as Hurricane Ian nears shore