Gillum knocks Trump: We need a partner, not someone who throws ‘cheap political shots’

Democratic Florida gubernatorial nominee and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum is firing back at President Trump, saying that he should be “a partner” as Hurricane Michael barrels toward Florida instead of someone who throws “cheap political shots.” 

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen a sitting president go after a sitting mayor in a community that is preparing itself for a near Category 4 hurricane to attack it,” Gillum said Tuesday night on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time.”

{mosads}”Listen, we don’t need partisanship. We need a president. We need a partner. We need someone who is going to come to our aid when we need it, not throw cheap political shots,” Gillum continued. 

Gillum was responding to comments Trump made earlier this week to a television station in Orlando, Fla. Trump, who has endorsed Gillum’s opponent in the gubernatorial race, Ron DeSantis (R), said that Gillum “runs a place that has a lot of problems.” Trump claimed that Tallahassee has “tremendous corruption, tremendous crime.”

Gillum first responded to Trump on Twitter, telling the president on Monday not to “come to my state and talk trash about my city” as it prepares for a hurricane.

“Hey @realDonaldTrump — don’t come to my state and talk trash about my city while we are preparing for a Category 3 hurricane,” he wrote. “We need a partner right now, not a partisan.”

Hurricane Michael strengthened Wednesday morning to a Category 4 storm and is expected to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle sometime Wednesday. 

During his interview Tuesday night on CNN, Gillum said he found Trump’s comments “most unfortunate, obviously, because of the timing” ahead of the storm. 

“And secondly, because of the fact that it’s not a true. I preside over a city that is experiencing right now a five-year low in our crime rate,” Gillum said.