White House pushes back after DeSantis declines to return calls from Biden and Harris on storm recovery

The White House dinged Ron DeSantis for reports the Republican governor of Florida has refused calls from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as officials continue hurricane recovery efforts and prepare for another to make landfall later this week.

The White House dinged Ron DeSantis for reports the Republican governor of Florida has refused calls from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as officials continue hurricane recovery efforts and prepare for another to make landfall later this week. “It’s up to him if he wants to respond to us or not,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at Monday’s press briefing. Harris, a White House official told CNN, has reached out to DeSantis multiple times in the time since Hurricane Helene made landfall in his state, but the governor has not taken the vice president’s calls. When Biden visited Florida last week to survey storm damage on the ground, DeSantis declined to join him, instead holding a press conference with reporters four hours north of the area the president toured. “We invited the governor, right, to come and survey the damage areas with the president – obviously, we were in Florida, we invited the governor of Florida to come, it was his decision not, to not attend or not be there with the president,” Jean-Pierre said. “The president has reached out around Hurricane Helene. He reached out. It is up to the governor, it is really up to the governor.” CNN has reached out to the White House, the Harris campaign and DeSantis’ office on details surrounding outreach between Biden, Harris, and the DeSantis. NBC News first reported on DeSantis having not taken Harris’ calls.