'Hypocrisy' and 'playing politics': Christie slams DeSantis for hurricane response

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called out his fellow GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis for “hypocrisy” in the wake of Hurricane Idalia.

"He voted against Sandy aid ... and now he wants aid," Christie told CNN Tuesday. "This is the hypocrisy that everybody sees in politics."

Florida Gov. DeSantis has sought federal aid for his storm-battered state. Yet as a new member of the U.S. House of Representatives a decade ago, DeSantis voted against sending aid to New Jersey and New York following Hurricane Sandy.

“I sympathize with the victims of Hurricane Sandy,” DeSantis said at the time, while adding his objection to “this ‘a put it on the credit card mentality.’”

Idalia hit Florida last week as a Category 3 hurricane, leading to widespread flooding and damage, along with one confirmed death. DeSantis left the campaign trail ahead of the storm's landfall to return to his home state.

President Joe Biden also made the trip to Florida last weekend. DeSantis did not meet with the president during this visit, for which Christie criticized the governor for "playing politics."

As governor of New Jersey when Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012, Christie met with then-President Barack Obama and was heavily criticized for embracing the leader of the opposite party.

Despite the backlash, Christie said Tuesday he “wouldn’t do one thing differently.”

“If I had to do it all over again eleven years later,” he added, “and I know it was six days before the election, but I was governor of New Jersey, and my job was to make sure my state got rebuilt and my people were covered as quickly as possible. And I couldn’t do that without the help of the president of the United States.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Christie slams DeSantis over Hurricane Idalia aid and response