Vice President Kamala Harris complained Wednesday about her political opponents allegedly politicizing Hurricane Milton just days after she attacked Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for not taking her call.
Harris complained during a phone call with CNN’s Dana Bash that Republican leaders are politicizing Hurricane Milton with alleged misinformation that are making “desperate” Floridian residents “afraid” of seeking aid. She called on the political “gamesmanship” to end just two days after she lamented DeSantis for not taking her call about the storm.
“But leaders on the ground who know that it is not in the best interest of the people living in those areas to not know their rights, not to know what their entitled to and to be afraid of seeking help,” Harris said. “It is dangerous, it is unconscionable, frankly, that anyone who considers themselves a leader would mislead desperate people to the point that those desperate people would not receive the aid to which they are entitled. And that’s why I call it dangerous, and we all know it’s dangerous and the gamesmanship has to stop. At some point, the politics has to end, especially in a moment of crisis and the crises that we’ve been seeing.”
“It affects so many people, I’ve met people who have lost family members to Hurricane Helene. We know the desperation and the fear that the folks who are attempting to evacuate Florida are experiencing. The last thing that they deserve is to have a so-called leader make them more afraid than they already are,” the vice president continued.
Harris accused DeSantis of playing “political games” after the Florida governor did not return her phone call, though President Joe Biden countered her remarks by confirming he had been in close contact with DeSantis for reports of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The Florida governor said he was unaware that Harris had tried to contact him and said he has “zero time” to pay attention to her “political games” during a Tuesday segment on “Fox & Friends.”
“It’s not about you, Kamala,” DeSantis said. “It’s about the people of Florida. My focus is exactly where it should be, and I can tell you this, I’ve worked on these hurricanes both under President Trump and President Biden, neither of them ever tried to politicize it. She has never called on any of the storms we’ve had since she’s been Vice President until apparently now. Why all of a sudden is she trying to parachute in and inject herself when she’s never shown any interest in the past? We know it’s because of politics, we know it’s because of her campaign. I have zero time to entertain these political games.”
Republican nominee Donald Trump has come under fire for stating that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could not properly allocate funds to hurricane relief because it allocated money to help illegal immigrants. He further noted the response has been “the worst response to a storm or hurricane disaster in U.S. history.”
Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said on Oct. 2 that FEMA “does not have the funds to make it through the season,” arguing additional resources are necessary. requested that Congress return to session and approve additional funding for hurricane relief in a Friday letter.
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