Ron DeSantis Won’t Attend Trump Rally In Sarasota After Meeting With Biden Amid Recovery Efforts

Ron Delancer

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will not be attending former President Trump’s rally in Sarasota, Florida on Saturday after Trump refused to postponed the event amid ongoing recovery efforts following the deadly condo building collapse in Surfside, New York Times White House correspondent Annie Karni reported Saturday.

“We can confirm that the Governor will not attend the rally in Sarasota. He spoke with President Trump, who agreed that this was the right decision, as the Governor’s duty is to be in Surfside making sure the families and community have what they need in the aftermath of the tragic building collapse,” DeSanti’s press secretary Christina Pushaw said.

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According to multiple reports, DeSantis had urged Trump’s team to postpone the rally due to ongoing recovery efforts in Surfside.

The news of DeSantis skipping Trump’s rally comes a day after he appeared alongside President Joe Biden during his visit to Florida. Biden thanked the GOP governor and other Republican and Democratic leaders for their work following the building collapse, saying, “Everybody’s on the same team.”

Dozens of people remain unaccounted for more than a week after the building collapsed. Officials have confirmed that at least 22 people died, and President Biden visited the area on Thursday to mourn with the families of those impacted.

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DeSantis “is focusing on his duties as Governor and the tragedy in Surfside, and has never suggested or requested that events planned in different parts of Florida — from the Stanley Cup finals to President Trump’s rally — should be canceled,” the governor’s office said in a statement Wednesday, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington argued that the rally was far away enough from the site of the disaster that it would not distract from the rescue efforts, the Herald-Tribune reported.

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