Harris Campaign Co-Chair Exasperated by Fox Host’s Interruptions: ‘If You Give Me a Chance to Answer…’

Martha MacCallum had a rather contentious interview on Tuesday with Cedric Richmond , the co-chair of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.

Richmond appeared on The Story on Fox News to discuss the Biden-Harris administration’s response to Hurricane Helene , which wreaked havoc on parts of the southeastern U.S. More than 230 people have died. Republicans have sought to cast the federal response as slow and inadequate. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has been promoting wild falsehoods about the government’s response.

MacCallum began the interview with Richmond by asking, “Why did it take a week for FEMA to get on the ground? And during that time, we did see a lot of campaigning going on, so it raises questions about who is callous in this situation.”

“Well, thank you for having me,” He began. “Let me just correct something first. It wasn’t a week before FEMA got on the ground. Second, I lived through Hurricane Katrina and Rita. And after devastating storms, it takes a moment to reach everybody where they are. And what communities do, is they don’t wait on government. They start to work. But what this administration has done, is already spent hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to victims of the hurricane. And what you do is, FEMA sets up a hotline. People start to apply for immediate cash funds, and then you see the government fund–”

“But they need money, Sir,” MacCallum interrupted. “They have people who are missing. I talked to a family yesterday. Her mother is still missing.”

The host went on to cite Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), who claimed many of the assets necessary to the rescue and recovery efforts were not in place before before Helene hit.

“How do you respond to that?” she said. “Why was that not the case with Helene?”

“If you give me a chance to answer, I will,” Richmond replied. “There were assets prepositioned before Helene. And that happens in every storm in coordination with FEMA and others. And look, what we won’t do is play tit for tat because this is too serious. I watched 1,500 people die in Hurricane Katrina and Rita. So, this may be cute, this may be a sound bite for you, but this is real life. And what we have to do is–”

“Exactly,” MacCallum interjected again. “That’s what I’m saying.

“Ok,” Richmond responded, clearly irritated. “We’re not gonna interrupt each other.”

“Go ahead,” she replied.

“We’re gonna make sure that people understand that there is aid out there,” he said. “We’re gonna help with recovery, we’re gonna help rescue people. You saw the National Guard out there. You saw the Coast Guard out there rescuing people. That’s the federal government coming in to help cities and states. And we’re gonna be there for Florida when [Hurricane Milton] happens.”

Watch above via Fox News.