President Joe Biden stepped up from Vice President Kamala Harris’ appearance on The View on Tuesday when he praised Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for “doing a great job” preparing for Hurricane Milton.
Biden made the comments during a clash with the vice president, who less than 24 hours earlier criticized the Republican governor as powerful Hurricane Milton rages towards Florida.
Harris and DeSantis publicly clashed on Monday when they accused each other of playing politics after DeSantis failed to take calls from the vice president.
But in an update on hurricane preparedness on Tuesday, Biden said he has spoken to “all the political leaders in the region” and some of them more than once, and said he had given DeSantis his personal phone number.
President Biden praised Governor Ron DeSantis for hurricane preparations, putting him in an awkward situation with his vice president, who criticized the governor for not taking her calls. Biden’s comments came as he and Harris dueled on Tuesday
The president said they have received an overwhelmingly positive response from everyone from “the governor of Florida to North Carolina.”
He said he spoke with DeSantis Monday evening and gave him his personal number to contact him at the White House.
“The governor of Florida has cooperated. He says he got everything he needs,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question.
“I spoke to him yesterday,” Biden said. “I said, ‘No, you’re doing a great job. It’s all done well. We thank you for it.’ And I literally gave him my personal phone number to call.”
He said every governor was cooperative and supportive of what the team is doing.
It comes after Harris blasted DeSantis on Monday for not answering her calls as the hurricane approached the state later this week.
“You know, moments of crisis should really be the moment when anyone who calls themselves a leader says they’re going to put politics aside and put the people first,” Harris said.
The vice president made the comments while speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrew before her departure to New York City.
She said ‘Playing political games at this time in these crisis situations, this is the height of the emergencies, it is just completely irresponsible and selfish.”
DailyMail.com confirmed that DeSantis did not take the vice president’s calls this week.
When DeSantis was asked during a news conference on Monday if he hadn’t called, he said he didn’t even know she had called.
‘I didn’t know she was calling me. I saw that, but I wasn’t aware of it,” he told reporters in Tallahassee.
At the time, he also claimed he didn’t know the president had called, but insisted the state got everything he asked for.
“I was able to contact all the governors,” Biden said Tuesday when asked about disinformation. ‘They stand up for what they asked for. They indicate that they are satisfied with everything they receive.’
Biden’s praise Tuesday clashed not only with what the vice president said on Monday, but also with what the vice president said on Monday he also made his comments at the same time his vice president appeared on The View.
It is the second time in recent days that Biden and Harris have appeared in public at the same time for separate events.
When Biden made his surprise stop in the White House press conference room for the first time ever on Friday, it came just as Harris was scheduled to deliver remarks to firefighters and other union workers in Michigan.
CNN even accused the president of “overshadowing” the Democratic presidential candidate on air, as the network pushed the president to answer questions from reporters while the vice president also held her event with a crucial group of voters.
But even as the pair host dueling events and Biden appears to throw Harris under the bus with his comments, the vice president has nothing but praise for her boss.
During her appearance on The View on Tuesday, Harris went so far as to say that it is nothing would change them in terms of what Biden did during their stay in the White House.
“There’s nothing that comes to mind,” Harris said.