Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking heat from 2024 GOP opponent Chris Christie for not meeting President Biden during his trip Saturday to tour regions affected by Hurricane Idalia. The former New Jersey governor criticized DeSantis on "The Brian Kilmeade Show" Tuesday for "playing politics" with the president's visit, hearkening back to his tenure as governor and the Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts when he worked with then-President Barack Obama.
DESANTIS PRAISES HURRICANE RESPONSE, ‘CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC’ FOR LESS DEVASTATION THAN 2022'S IAN
CHRIS CHRISTIE: He was playing politics with it, but that's his choice. I'm not the least bit surprised that that's what he chose to do. You're the governor of the state. President of the United States comes and you're asking the President of the United States or the Congress for significant aid, which Ron DeSantis is doing, and especially if you voted against it ten years ago for Sandy aid, you should have been there with the president to welcome it. Fortunately, Rick Scott, the United States senator and a former governor, two-term governor who knows what it means to be governor showed up and made sure that the president saw the things that he needed to see. Your job as governor is to be the tour guide for the president. It's to make sure the president sees your people, sees the damage, sees the suffering, what's going on, and what's going to need to be done to rebuild it. You're doing your job. And unfortunately, he put politics ahead of his job. That was his choice.
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I wouldn't do a thing differently because my obligation is to the people who elected me. And the people who elected me were all the people of the state of New Jersey. And guess what? We were able to rebuild our state in record time, be able to bring it back to where it needed to be. Returned our tourism the very next summer. Remember, Sandy happened October 29. By the next summer, tourism was back at the Jersey Shore because of the way we worked with the federal government to get the aid we needed to get things done. I think people should want someone who wants to do their job first and foremost while they're auditioning for another job, not audition for the other job and the politics ahead of doing things for the people of Florida.
President Biden traveled to Florida over the weekend to tour areas affected by Hurricane Idalia, however, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis decided not to meet the president.
White House officials said Saturday they were caught flat-footed by DeSantis' decision.
Biden had said earlier he would meet with the governor as he tours areas of Florida damaged by Hurricane Idalia, but the DeSantis team contradicted the president.
"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," said DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern.
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Idalia made landfall early Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane in the Big Bend region, with winds up to 125 mph, shredding homes, ripping off roofs, snapping tall trees and turning streets into rivers.
It later downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved north, hitting Georgia — resulting in one confirmed death — and the Carolinas.
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Fox News' Chris Pandolfo and Timothy H. J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.
