Biden Says DeSantis Helped Him Plan Trip To Florida

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has announced he will not meet up with Joe Biden as Biden and other White House officials visit the state of Florida to look at the ongoing recovery efforts after Hurricane Idalia hit the state.

White House officials said they were caught off guard by DeSantis refusing to meet up with Biden

A spokesperson for DeSantis stated, “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.”

Biden’s camp however claim Biden and DeSantis spoke on the phone on Thursday and the two mutually agreed to meet up.

In response to finding out DeSantis wouldn’t meet up with him Biden told reporters “We’re going to take care of Florida.

Biden: I don’t believe DeSantis is going to be there today

Reporter: Do you have a message for him?

Biden: We’re going to take care of Florida pic.twitter.com/mkgnK5BxcS

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 2, 2023

Biden however would later share more and say  DeSantis “dd help us plan this. He sat with FEMA and decided where we should go. And I’m very pleased. A guy who we don’t agree very much at all, the distinguished former governor and senior senator. He came, talked to me.”

Watch Biden say it here:

Biden: DeSantis may have had other reasons, but he did help us plan this. He sat with FEMA and decided where we should go. And I'm very pleased. A guy who we don't agree very much at all, the distinguished former governor and senior senator. He came, talked to me… pic.twitter.com/z67sLmfeLZ

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 2, 2023

Here’s what Fox News reported:

White House officials said Saturday they were caught flat-footed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision not to meet with President Biden when Biden visits the state later today.

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.

At a gaggle on Air Force One, reporters asked Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Deanne Criswell and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre what happened, since the White House had said there was an agreed location for the president’s visit and that security preparations weren’t an issue.

“There was just no indication that he was not going to be there,” Jean-Pierre said of DeSantis.

Criswell, who surveyed the damage with DeSantis Wednesday and Thursday, said the area Biden will visit in Live Oak was “mutually agreed on.” She noted Biden spoke with the governor by phone Thursday.

“What we look at is operational impacts, and this area, the power is being restored, the roads are all open, and the access has not been hindered. And, so, that’s why this was a mutually agreed upon area for the president,” Criswell said.

There’s more to the story though.

DeSantis hasn’t always refused to meet up with Biden.

Remember this in 2021:

“We’re letting the nation know we can cooperate. When it’s really important … This is life and death.”

— President Biden sitting next to Gov. Ron DeSantis in Surfside, Florida pic.twitter.com/RncG34Uxya

— The Recount (@therecount) July 1, 2021

Per Politico:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday praised President Joe Biden’s federal response to the collapse of a condo building in the coastal suburb of Surfside — providing a moment of bipartisan bonhomie between the leader of the Democratic Party and a rising star within Donald Trump’s GOP.

Speaking at a command briefing near the site of the deadly disaster, DeSantis — seated beside Biden — said the president had “recognized the severity of this tragedy from day one, and you’ve been very supportive.”

The governor went on to assess that cooperation between local, state and federal partners seeking to manage the fallout from the building collapse “has been great,” telling Biden: “You guys have not only been supportive at the federal level, but we’ve had no bureaucracy.”

“I promise you,” the president replied, “there will be none.

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