Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has no plans to meet with President Biden on Saturday when the commander in chief visits parts of the state hardest hit by Hurricane Idalia.
“We do not have any plans for the governor to meet with the president tomorrow,” DeSantis’ press secretary Jeremy Redfern said in a statement Friday.
“In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations required to host such a gathering alone would put an end to ongoing recovery efforts,” he added.
DeSantis, 44, who is vying to challenge Biden, 80, in the 2024 presidential election, has been in frequent contact with the White House since the Category 3 storm made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast in early this week, but the lack of a planned response The face-to-face meeting between the two contradicts what the president told the media on Friday.
“Yes,” Biden responded when a reporter asked if he planned to meet with DeSantis at some point during his trip to Florida.
White House National Security Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall also suggested Friday that she was looking forward to a meeting between Biden and DeSantis.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has no plans to meet with President Biden on Saturday.ZUMAPRESS.com
“We’re just planning the visit, but I will say that every time I’ve been to Florida with the president, he’s met, of course, with Governor DeSantis and traveled to the disaster zone, whether it was last year’s hurricane or when the Surfside condo building collapsed,” Sherwood-Randall said.
“They often meet and receive information from the emergency services. It can be outdoors, as it was from last year’s hurricane. It could be in a meeting room, like it was in Surfside. “They are very collegial when we have the work to do together to help Americans in need, Florida citizens in need,” she added.
DeSantis warned Biden on Friday that his planned visit to the Sunshine State could be “very disruptive” to ongoing recovery efforts.
DeSantis warned Biden on Friday that his planned visit to the Sunshine State could be “very disruptive” to ongoing recovery efforts.ZUMAPRESS.com
“One thing I mentioned to him on the phone is where these communities are. [are] – the hardest hit communities – it would be very disruptive to have the whole security apparatus going because there are so many ways to get into these places,” DeSantis told reporters during a briefing in Tallahassee.
Fierce Idalia winds and torrential storm surges wreaked havoc in the Big Bend region of Florida Wednesday morning, leaving hundreds of thousands of Floridians without power.
The governor said Friday that he expects all power to be restored to residents this weekend.
DeSantis has taken a break from the campaign trail to focus on recovery efforts in the Sunshine State. It is unclear when the governor plans to resume his presidential primary campaign.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn