CNN
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The White House has criticized Ron DeSantis over reports that Florida’s Republican governor has rejected calls from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as officials continue hurricane recovery and prepare for another one arriving later this week country comes.

“It’s up to him whether he wants to respond to us or not,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at the news conference on Monday.

Harris, a White House official told CNN, has contacted DeSantis several times 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 news conference with reporters four hours north of the area the president was touring.

“We invited the governor 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 attend or not to be there with the chairman,” said Jean-Pierre. “The President has contacted Hurricane Helene. He held out his hand. It’s up to the governor, it’s really up to the governor.”

CNN has reached out to the White House, the Harris campaign and DeSantis’ office about details surrounding the Biden, Harris and DeSantis partnership.

NBC News first reported that DeSantis had not taken Harris’ calls.

It is not the first time that the governor of Florida has avoided a meeting with Biden after a natural disaster. In 2023, he declined to meet with Biden during a trip to the state after Hurricane Idalia, even after the president said he planned to meet with the Republican governor.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell was in touch with DeSantis on Sunday to discuss preparations for Hurricane Milton, which is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday.

“She talked to him yesterday about Milton,” Jean-Pierre said. “And we will certainly continue with pre-positioning on the ground, and we are going to support the communities with whatever they need, whenever they need it. That is our commitment.”

However, the press secretary emphasized that the federal government remains focused on disaster recovery in the state, regardless of whether DeSantis returns calls from the president or vice president.

“That’s something the governor needs to say to himself. If you have the president and the vice president offering assistance to your constituents, the people who live in your state, to make sure that we do everything that we need to do from a federal response, and we’ If we reach out and offering our support, that is up to the governor, it is up to him whether he wants to respond to us or not,” she said.

She continued: “But what we’re doing is working with state and local officials to make sure that we’re pre-positioned to make sure that we’re ready to be there for the communities that are going to be affected – we’re doing the work that is necessary.”

Federal officials, the press secretary said, will provide a “robust whole-of-government response.”

“And everything else I would have to leave up to the governor for his actions, for how he wants to move forward on this. That’s for him, that’s a question for the governor,” she said.