Biden surveys storm damage in Florida, without DeSantis
By Jeff Mason
LIVE OAK, Florida (Reuters) -President Joe Biden traveled to Florida on Saturday to survey the destruction from Hurricane Idalia and comfort victims of the storm, but he did not meet with Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential presidential rival, who opted not to come.
Biden, who praised DeSantis during the visit, said he was not disappointed by the Republican governor's absence and said DeSantis had helped plan the trip.
DeSantis' spokesperson said on Friday the governor had no plans to meet Biden, saying «the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts.»
Biden, a Democrat, took an aerial tour and received a briefing from local officials and first responders in Live Oak, a town hit hard by the storm. He saw houses with fallen trees on them, and said no one «intelligent» could doubt that climate change was happening.
But politics hung over his trip. The president, who has spoken to DeSantis multiple times this week, had said on Friday they would meet in person. The governor's decision caught the White House off guard.
Asked if he was disappointed DeSantis did not come, Biden said no.
«No, I'm not disappointed. He may have had other reasons.… But he did help us plan this,» Biden told reporters while standing in front of a damaged house. «He sat with FEMA and decided where we should go, where would be the least disruption,» the president said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Biden said he was pleased that Senator Rick Scott, a Republican former governor of Florida, had come despite their disagreements on many issues.
Scott, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, who was the 45th U.S. president, wore a hat that
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