Ron DeSantis on Friday mocked Joe Biden for saying 'governor who?' when asked about Florida's no-mask policy and said he 'wasn't surprised' the president 'doesn't remember me'.
'Well I guess I’m not surprised that Biden doesn’t remember me. I guess the question is what else has he forgotten?' DeSantis said at a press conference in Tampa.
The Florida Republican and the White House have been in war of words since he announced he was banning mask mandates in schools.
DeSantis then listed what Biden had 'forgotten' in including the southern border, the Cuba crisis and the 'constitution itself'.
'I’m the governor who protects parents and their ability to make the right choices for their kid’s education,' he said, referring to his executive order banning mask mandates in schools, which has sparked backlash in Washington.
'I'm the governor who protects the jobs and education and businesses in Florida by not letting the federal government lock us down.
Ron DeSantis on Friday mocked Joe Biden for saying 'governor who?' when asked about Florida's no-mask policy and said he 'wasn't surprised' the president 'doesn't remember me'. I guess the question is what else has he forgotten?' DeSantis fired back
'I’m the governor who answers to the people of Florida, not to bureaucrats in Washington.'
DeSantis' comments on Friday came just hours after Biden's press secretary Jen Psaki took aim his policies again in the ongoing tit-for-tat.
Psaki took a dig at DeSantis' executive order by saying politicians should not be deciding mask policy and insisted the 'vast majority' of Republican governors were doing a 'good job' when it came to COVID.
She highlighted Arkansas's Asa Hutchinson and Maryland's Larry Hogan for praise as she continued her attacks on DeSantis.
Hutchinson said recently he regretted signing a law banning local mask mandates. Maryland has a 78% vaccination rate and Hogan was one of the first governors in America to require face masking.
'I want public health officials to make decisions about how to keep my kids safe, not politicians,' Psaki said
'Not only is Gov. DeSantis not abiding by public health decisions, he is fundraising off of this.'
Fox News' Peter Doocy asked Psaki if she was worried about 'harmful emotional damage and psychological effects' making young children mask up in school could have, as DeSantis has highlighted experts who say this could be the case.
'No,' the press secretary said. 'I will tell you from personal experience my rising kindergartener told me two days ago she could wear a mask all day. She's just happy to go to camp and go to school.'
'Parents in Florida, parents across the country, should have the ability and the knowledge that their kids are going to school and they're in safe environments that shouldn't be too much to ask,' she added.
'Governor who?' Biden joked with reporters when asked about the Florida Governor at an electric vehicle event at the White House
DeSantis has threatened to withhold funds from Florida school districts if they mandate that students wear face coverings. He said the new CDC recommendations for masks in classrooms 'lacks' scientific justification.
Amid rising cases due to the Delta variant of Covid-19 the CDC did an about-face and said that in high-risk areas - which is much of the country - even vaccinated people should mask up in public. It also recommended universal masking in schools.
This prompted cries from some that telling vaccinated people they still needed to wear masks could undermine
