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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks previous to awarding Medals of Honor to U.S. Military veterans who fought within the Vietnam Conflict, throughout a ceremony within the East Room on the White Home in Washington, U.S., July 5, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Picture
By Jeff Mason
LIVE OAK, Florida (Reuters) -President Joe Biden traveled to Florida on Saturday to survey the destruction from Hurricane Idalia and luxury victims of the storm, however he didn’t meet Governor Ron DeSantis, a possible presidential rival, who opted to not come.
Biden, who praised DeSantis in the course of the go to, mentioned he was not disenchanted by the governor’s absence and mentioned DeSantis had helped plan the journey.
DeSantis’ spokesperson mentioned on Friday the governor had no plans to satisfy Biden, saying “the safety preparations alone that may go in to organising such a gathering would shut down ongoing restoration efforts.”
Biden took an aerial tour and acquired a briefing from native officers and first responders in Reside Oak, a city that was hit onerous by the storm. He noticed homes with fallen bushes on them and mentioned nobody “clever” may doubt that local weather change was occurring.
However politics hung over his journey. The president, who has spoken to DeSantis a number of occasions this week, had mentioned on Friday they might meet in individual. The choice by the governor caught the White Home off guard.
Requested if he was disenchanted DeSantis didn’t come, Biden mentioned no.
“No, I am not disenchanted. He might have had different causes… However he did assist us plan this. He sat with FEMA and determined the place we should always go, the place could be the least disruption,” Biden instructed reporters, whereas standing in entrance of a broken home.
Biden mentioned he was happy that Senator Rick Scott, a Republican former governor of Florida, had come regardless of their disagreements on many points. Scott, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, wore a hat that mentioned “Navy” on the entrance and “45” on the again. Trump was the forty fifth U.S. president.
DeSantis, 44, spent the day about 50 miles (80 km) south, touring small communities alongside Florida’s Gulf Coast, based on his official schedule.
Responding to an earlier query on Saturday on what had occurred to the assembly, Biden had instructed reporters: “I do not know. He is not going to be there.”
DeSantis is operating for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination to oust Biden from the White Home, however trails Trump in opinion polls. Biden, 80, is operating for re-election.
Biden and DeSantis have spoken usually this week in regards to the storm, which pummeled Florida’s Large Bend area with Class 3 winds of almost 125 mph (200 kph). On Wednesday, the president mentioned politics had not crept into their conversations.
POLITICALLY PERILOUS
It may have been politically perilous for DeSantis to be photographed with Biden overlooking storm harm now as the first race intensifies. Although he trails far behind Trump, DeSantis leads the opposite Republican candidates within the race.
When Biden visited Florida after Hurricane Ian, a photograph of DeSantis standing awkwardly to the aspect as Biden talked animatedly with an area couple went viral, highlighting the distinction between the 2 politicians’ kinds of public interplay.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who can be operating for the 2024 Republican nomination, drew criticism for his reward of President Barack Obama in 2012 when the Democrat visited his state within the aftermath of superstorm Sandy.
Through the go to to Reside Oak, Biden acquired reward from Scott, the Republican senator, for declaring an official catastrophe early on.
The president, for his half, complemented Scott and DeSantis.
“The governor was on prime of it,” Biden mentioned.
The White Home mentioned Biden, who’s touring together with his spouse, Jill, knowledgeable DeSantis in regards to the go to throughout a dialog on Thursday and the governor didn’t elevate considerations.
Their failure to satisfy won’t have any influence on restoration efforts, FEMA head Deanne Criswell mentioned.
She instructed reporters that search and rescue operations had wrapped up and that officers had been now targeted on restoring energy to the affected areas. Lower than 1% of Floridians had been with out energy as of Saturday, she mentioned, although that determine was considerably increased in some areas immediately impacted by the hurricane.
DeSantis has been a pointy critic of Biden, and the 2 have clashed over COVID-19 vaccines, abortion and LGBT rights. However after they met final yr when Biden got here to Florida to evaluate the devastation from Hurricane Ian, Biden mentioned that that they had labored collectively “hand in glove.”
Biden visited Hawaii simply final week within the aftermath of lethal wildfires there, and mentioned on Wednesday that nobody may deny the local weather disaster in gentle of the intense climate.
After concluding the Florida journey, he’s slated to journey to his dwelling state of Delaware for the weekend.
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