Joe Biden, Ron DeSantis teams ‘mutually agreed’ on location for presidential visit: FEMA

While Gov. Ron DeSantis won’t meet with Joe Biden Saturday afternoon in Florida, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell says the Governor’s Office and the White House “mutually agreed” that the President would be safe in Live Oak, where Biden will hold a briefing and tour.

“The Governor and the President spoke on Thursday and our teams began to work immediately to determine an area for the president to go visit and the area that we’re going,” Criswell said, adding that the location was “mutually agreed on by both the governor’s team and my team on the ground” and that DeSantis gave “no indication” he wouldn’t meet Biden.

The Governor’s spokesman said Friday that the state couldn’t be assured of security for the President as he tours the most storm-stricken areas in the state, even though such concerns weren’t an issue in the aftermath of 2022’s Hurricane Ian. This raises questions as to why the teams “mutually agreed” on the location, of course.

“We don’t have any plans for the Governor to meet with the President tomorrow,” Jeremy Redfern says. “In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts.”

Criswell noted Saturday that “what we look at is operational impact in this area,” adding that “the power is being restored, the roads are all open and the access has not been hindered.”

Biden was asked about the non-meeting as he boarded Air Force One.

“I don’t know. He’s not going to be there,” Biden said before boarding the plane. “We are going to take care of Florida.

Asked if he agreed with DeSantis about security being unable to handle Biden’s visit, Biden turned to the reporter and asked, “Do you?”

During a press conference in Tallahassee this week, DeSantis said he warned the President that traveling to certain parts of the state affected by the storm could be logistically “very disruptive.”

“I will say just one thing that I did mention to him on the phone is where these communities, the hardest hit communities, (are), it would be very disruptive to have the whole kind of security apparatus that goes because there’s only so many ways to get into these places,” DeSantis said.

“And so what we want to do is make sure that the power restoration continues, that the relief efforts continue and that we don’t have any interruption in that.”

DeSantis said Department of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie “has relayed that and I’m sure they’ll be sensitive to that as well.”