‘She Has No Role in This Process’: DeSantis Takes Shot at Kamala Harris for ‘Trying to Inject Herself’ Into Disaster Relief

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accused Vice President Kamala Harris of “trying to inject herself” into Florida’s disaster relief effort for her “political campaign” and defended his not having taken her calls, arguing that instead of “catering to” the Democratic nominee – who had “never offered any support” before – he was committed to his state.

On Tuesday it emerged that the Republican governor was refusing calls from Harris after Hurricane Helene hit the state and days before Hurricane Milton made landfall.

DeSantis appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday to discuss recovery efforts now that Milton had passed when host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked him about what happened with Harris.

The governor replied: “I am working with the President of the United States, I’m working with the director of FEMA, I’m marshaling all my state assets. We’ve been doing this now nonstop for over two weeks between Helene and this. And so if there’s anything I can leverage to benefit my people, I’m going to do it.”

He then pivoted to slam Harris’s reaching out in contrast to the help from President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump , who he said never “politicized” disaster relief in offering help.

The fact of the matter is they put out a story saying I didn’t take [her calls]. I didn’t even know she was trying to reach me, but she has no role in this process. And I’ve been dealing with these storms in Florida under both Trump and Biden. Neither of them ever politicized it. And, in fact, all the storms I’ve dealt with under this administration, although I’ve worked well with the president, [Harris] has never called in Florida. She has never offered any support.

So what she’s doing is she’s trying to inject herself into this because of her political campaign. So as the governor here who’s leading this, I don’t have time for those games. I don’t care about her campaign.

The governor added that he was working with those that he needed to to deliver the best outcome for Florida’s citizens.

Obviously, I’m not a supporter of hers, but she has no role in this process. And so I’m working with the people I need to be working with. We’re leveraging the resources I need to be leveraging. And for her to try to say that my focus should be on catering to her rather than worrying about my own people, just so she doesn’t understand what it means to respond to these natural disasters.

Watch above on CNBC.