Ron DeSantis says the media WANTED Hurricane Ian to hit Florida so they could advance their 'political agenda' 

  • Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other state officials have faced questions over Lee County's delayed evacuation order for Hurricane Ian
  • Residents in the hard-hit area were given just a day's notice to evacuate before catastrophic damage occurred in Fort Myers, Sanibel Island and Cape Coral
  • That's despite Lee County's existing guidelines that would have called for an evacuation order at least a day earlier
  • DeSantis has blamed media attention on Tampa for misleading Lee County residents into thinking they were safer at home than they really were
  • He dismissed the media scrutiny as a 'pissing contest' and said it was 'inappropriate' to be searching for blame while the recovery was ongoing
  • Also on Tuesday, DeSantis revealed three of the looters who targeted homes following Hurricane Ian were in the country illegally 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday accused the 'national regime media' of wanting Hurricane Ian to wreak havoc Tampa, claiming it would have been used to advance a 'political agenda.'

The Republican leader was speaking with small conservative outlet Florida's Voice, who caught up with him in hard-hit Lee County.

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Facing questions over the area's delayed evacuation order earlier this week, DeSantis accused media outlets of focusing their coverage solely on the Tampa area, thereby giving residents of Cape Coral, Sanibel Island and Fort Myers a false sense of safety.

Multiple media outlets have pushed back on the accusation.

He repeated the defense again to Florida's Voice on Tuesday, before being asked whether there would be any 'accountability in the media' for the forecasts predicting destruction in Tampa. 

'I think part of it, quite frankly, you have national regime media, that they wanted to see Tampa [hit], because they thought that would be worse for Florida. That's how these people think,' DeSantis said.

'They don't care about the people of this state. They don't care about the people of this community. They want to use storms, and destruction from storms, as a way to advance their agenda.'

He continued, 'They don't care what destruction's in their wake, they don't care about the lives here. If they can use to pursue their political agenda, they will do it.'

'We were obviously concerned about Tampa too, but I think there was so much emphasis on it that I do think people said...well I'm 125 miles away from here, maybe I'm better off hunkering down,' DeSantis said of the media coverage in the days before the storm. 'I absolutely think that impacted decision making.' 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told conservative outlet Florida's Voice on Tuesday that the media wanted Hurricane Ian to batter Tampa 'because they thought that would be worse for Florida'

Earlier, he dismissed the media scrutiny over Lee County's day-long evacuation window before the storm hit as a 'pissing contest' and said it was 'inappropriate' to be searching for blame while the recovery was ongoing.

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DeSantis said he warned 'the whole time' that the storm's path would be 'unpredictable.'

'To go back and like, say, Lee County did this bad or that bad, you know, first of all, it's not even appropriate to be doing that now,' the governor said.

'If you wanna do that when the dust settles, you know, we can talk about that. And obviously you need to bring facts to the table and you need to explain, you know, the track and why everyone was focused on Tampa - but that's fine.'

Out of dozens of deaths across the state, the majority so far have been in Lee County.

The area, which includes parts that were only accessible by a bridge that has since been destroyed by the storm, was given orders to evacuate just a day before the storm made landfall as a Category 4 Hurricane.

Despite officials claims that they couldn't have seen it coming, a New York Times report shows that Lee County's own storm evacuation guidelines would have mandated residents to find safety at least a day earlier than they were told to.

Sanibel Island, Fort Myers and Cape Coral among other places in Lee County suffered catastrophic damage and more deaths than any other county in the state from the hurricane

DeSantis also revealed Tuesday that three of the four looting suspects arrested in Lee County were undocumented residents of the United States.

He made the revelation during a news conference in Fort Myers as he gave an update about the response to Hurricane Ian.

DeSantis focused on 'law and order' in southwest Florida and drew a connection between that and his opposition to President Joe Biden's immigration policies. 

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'These are people that are foreigners, they're illegally in our country, but not only that, they try to loot and ransack in the aftermath of a natural disaster,' DeSantis explained.

'They should be prosecuted, but they need to be sent back to their home country. They should not be here at all.'

The four men were arrested on charges of burglary of an unoccupied structure during a state of emergency, according to online jail records. 

The individuals, aged between 20 and 33, were booked for ransacking devastated homes and businesses on Fort Myers Beach while they suffered in the wake of the storm. 

All four looters were arrested on September 29 - but documents reveal that they were released after posting $35,000 bonds each.  

A no trespassing sign warning looters is seen outside a shop after Hurricane Ian caused widespread destruction in Fort Myers Beach, Florida
Lucas Gordon spray paints a sign that reads,' You loot we shoot', in front of his home. Gordon said they were afraid looters might try to take advantage of them
A warning to looters is spray painted on the side of a car on Pine Island, Florida
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno held a press conference Tuesday in which he addressed the spike in looting and illegal scavenging in the aftermath of the historic hurricane
The looters were found with several bottles on liquor on them
Officers take down the details of the suspected looters who were later out on $35,000 bond

The oldest looting suspect is Omar Mejia Ortiz, 33. He lives in Immokalee - meaning he traveled at least 50 miles to Fort Myers beach to ransack the ruinous shops and homes after Hurricane Ian's wrath, reports Florida Jolt.

Valerie Celeste Salcedo Mena, 26, made her way from her home in Cape Coral, which is at least a 40-minute drive to the Florida coastline.  

The youngest two suspects who were arrested for looting seem to be related - Brandon Mauricio Araya and Steve Eduardo Sanchez Araya. 

The young men, both aged 20, traveled from the same address in Cape Coral before finding themselves booked in Lee County. 

All four suspects were booked for the same crime: Burglary of an unoccupied structure during a state of emergency and all will face a hearing on October 31 at Lee County's Circuit Court. 

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Lee County currently has a curfew and a 'zero-tolerance' policy against looting. 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis waves following a press conference to update information about the on ongoing efforts to help people after hurricane Ian passed through the area

DeSantis has taken a hard line against looters since Ian struck the Sunshine State and told of a sign he saw in the city of Punta Gorda.

'They boarded up all the businesses, and there are people that wrote on their plywood, 'you loot, we shoot,' DeSantis said. 

'At the end of the day, we are not going to allow lawlessness to take advantage of this situation. We are a law-and-order state, and this is a law-and-order community, so do not think that you're going to go take advantage of people who've suffered misfortune.'

DeSantis has taken a similarly hard line when it comes to immigration and last month stirred outrage by sending 48 Venezuelan migrants on flights from Texas to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Destruction left behind in the wake of Hurricane Ian is shown on Tuesday in Fort Myers Beach
Southwest Florida suffered severe damage during the Category 4 hurricane which caused extensive damage to communities along the state's coast
Members of the Virginia Task Force 2 Urban Search and Rescue team comb through the wreckage on Fort Myers Beach looking for victims of Hurricane Ian
A search dog helps members of Virginia Task Force 2 Urban Search and Rescue comb through the wreckage on Fort Myers Beach looking for victims of Hurricane Ian on Tuesday
A search team can be seen in the distance as they comb through the wreckage at Fort Myers Beach
Destruction left behind in the wake of Hurricane Ian is shown on Tuesday in Fort Myers Beach
A member of the search and rescue team stands atop the wreckage
The search team can be seen walking over the wreckage
Hubert and Betty Toney stand outside their home, which roof was torn off by Hurricane Ian

Later in St. Augustine, DeSantis said he told Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie that the state could provide support in the event of people bringing boats to try to 'ransack' homes on islands that have been isolated from the mainland.

'I can tell you, in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebody's home,' DeSantis said. 'I would not want to chance that if I were you, given that we're a Second Amendment state.'

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno backed up DeSantis position on looting in the wake of the destructive storm.

'As far as looting — we have law and order in Lee County. We have law and order in our great state of Florida, and we always will. Right now, we have four cases of looting, and I'm proud to say they're behind bars where they belong. Our residents are going to be safe,' said Marceno. 

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'All three of these subjects are here illegally in this country — Robert Mena, Brandon Araya, Stephen Araya — all arrested for stealing bottles on Fort Myers Beach during the hurricane. They were located and arrested. And I'm going to tell you, I'm not tolerating it again.' 

Marceno warned that those who loot risk being shot by police. 

'I'm not playing. We're not playing. We have law and order and great residents will be safe and secure. We've had arrests on these incidents,' Marceno continued. 'You might walk in. You'll be carried out.' 

The mounting death toll from Ian's wrath currently stands at 85, and 'ground zero' Fort Myers is currently one of Florida's most decimated neighborhoods as rescue teams desperately try and find survivors amid the rubble.  

Last week, NBC2 reporter Gage Goulding captured the moment five looters were handcuffed on video - as the opportunistic rebels kept their eyes on the ground during the embarrassing arrest
Attorney General Ashley Moody also made a warning to looters: 'These unscrupulous offenders must remain locked up where they can no longer prey on vulnerable Floridians'

The torrent brought ashore by Hurricane Ian caused an estimated $60 billion in damage. 

Insurers assessing the damage to properties ransacked by the flooding and winds are bracing for a multi-billion dollar hit after Florida's streets were turned into rivers and houses were engulfed by the raging Category 4 storm. 

Decimated coastal towns and submerged homes are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the catastrophic loss caused by the violent weather front last week. So far, more than 1,600 locals have been rescued. 

The current number of fatalities is only expected to grow as rescue teams dive in and assess the shattered towns submerged by Ian's fury - while 600,000 people are still in darkness after the hurricane obliterated power lines. 

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Depleted survivors on 'ground zero' Fort Myers, which was obliterated by the 15-foot storm surge, were forced to escape the aftermath on foot, while clear-up teams rummaged street by street through the shocking debris.  

The eye-watering projection includes estimated wind, storm surge, and inland flood losses resulting from Ian's landfalls in both Florida and South Carolina, risk modeling firm Verisk said.

A wind blown camper-trailer rests on a passenger car along a highway in Punta Gorda, Florida
Decimated coastal towns and submerged homes are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the catastrophic loss caused by the violent weather front last week

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