WH on Upcoming Biden/DeSantis Meeting: ‘Now Is Not the Time’ to Discuss Differences

(CNSNews.com) – When President Biden visits Florida on Wednesday, he plans to meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis, but the topic of the governor flying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard won’t be on the agenda, the White House said on Tuesday.

“You mentioned the president will be meeting with Governor DeSantis tomorrow as part of his trip to Florida. They’ve met in person in the past when he was visiting Surfside as well,” NBC White House Correspondent Mike Memoli said.

“Both of those conversations were above politics, focused on the tragedies at hand, but I’m wondering if the president will look for an opportunity behind the scenes privately tomorrow to speak with Governor DeSantis about some of his concerns about his actions as it relates to flying migrants to other jurisdictions,” he said.

“Obviously, the president laid out his concerns and outrage by the stunt, the political stunt, and by the fact that people were misled. You’ve heard me talk about this. You’ve heard the president talk about this and how they were misled and flown across the country with all kinds of promises that were not true,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“There will be plenty of time to discuss differences between the president and the governor, but now is not the time. As you’ve heard from the president, he has said when it comes to delivering and making sure that the people of Florida have what they need, especially after Hurricane Ian, we are working as one, and so that is what the president is going to be doing when he’s there in Florida,” she said.

“He’s going to be listening to the people who live there who have lost so much. He’s going to be talking to the respondents on the ground who have done tremendous work. As you know, the FEMA administrator will be traveling with him as well,” the press secretary said.

“And they’re going to – Governor DeSantis and President Biden – as they have done several times, leading up to this day, as Florida’s been dealing with this hurricane, they’re going to talk about what else are the needs in Florida to get to a place of recovery, to get to a place of rebuilding, but again, this is going to be, as you’ve said, above politics,” Jean-Pierre said.  

“You have seen them do this before when Surfside — you — I remember you traveled with us when we went to Surfside, when the President and Governor DeSantis listened to the people of Florida who dealt — in that community — who dealt with so much lost, loved ones, and so that’s what you’re going to see again tomorrow, and also, you saw that yesterday in Puerto Rico,” she said.

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