Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida just isn’t anticipated to satisfy with President Biden on Saturday through the president’s go to to tour the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, the Category 3 storm that hit the state this week.
“We don’t have any plans for the governor to meet with the president tomorrow,” Jeremy Redfern, the governor’s press secretary, stated on Friday. “In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts.”
The assertion got here a day after Mr. Biden had stated throughout a go to to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters in Washington that he would journey to Florida.
“By the way, I am going to Florida,” Mr. Biden stated. “I’m going to Florida Saturday morning.”
The announcement had set in movement a flurry of exercise on the White House, with aides and the Secret Service instantly planning for a go to to flood-ravaged communities in Florida. While Mr. Biden didn’t present particulars concerning the journey, he responded to a reporter’s query throughout an occasion on the White House on Friday morning about whether or not he deliberate to see Mr. DeSantis in Florida, saying merely, “Yes.”
Asked on Friday night time concerning the assertion from the governor’s workplace, a White House official, who was not licensed to debate personal conversations between the president and the governor, stated: “The president informed the governor yesterday before his visit to FEMA. The governor did not express concerns at that time. The visit was closely coordinated with FEMA, state and local officials to ensure there is no impact to ongoing response operations.”
Storms can typically make for unusual bedfellows, particularly when a president from one political social gathering known as to assist a governor who may in any other case be certainly one of his harshest critics. In this case, the dynamics are amplified, as Mr. DeSantis has been searching for the nomination to run towards Mr. Biden in 2024.
As Hurricane Idalia approached after which swept by Florida this week, Mr. DeSantis had 4 telephone calls with Mr. Biden, which either side described as productive — a stark change from how Mr. DeSantis talks concerning the president on the marketing campaign path.
Mr. Biden traveled to the state after the way more devastating Hurricane Ian final yr. At the time, Mr. DeSantis was nonetheless contemplating a bid for the presidency. But each Mr. Biden and the governor have stated they’re placing politics apart within the aftermath of the storm.
“We have to deal with supporting the needs of the people who are in harm’s way or have difficulties,” Mr. DeSantis stated earlier this week when requested about Mr. Biden. “And that has got to triumph over any type of short-term political calculation or any type of positioning. This is the real deal. You have people’s lives that have been at risk.”
Mr. DeSantis stated in a news convention on Friday that he had talked about to Mr. Biden on the telephone that in “the hardest communities, it would be very disruptive to have the whole kind of security apparatus that goes,” including, “I’m sure they’ll be sensitive to that.”
So far, state officers have confirmed just one dying as being storm-related, though a minimum of one different was linked to Idalia as properly. Power had been restored to many houses by late this week. Roads and bridges had been being reopened.
“We were ready for this,” Mr. DeSantis instructed Sean Hannity on Fox News on Wednesday night time, talking in entrance of a historic oak tree that had fallen on the governor’s mansion. “Most of the people did evacuate, and so we’re cautiously optimistic that we’re going to end up OK on that.”
Source: www.nytimes.com