DeSantis touts role in organizing flights out of Israel, but some details are murky
But details about the chartered flights have been murky from the start and are only now beginning to become clear nearly a week after the governor's executive order.
DeSantis initially indicated the flights were meant to transport Floridians, telling Fox News last Friday, "There are definitely hundreds of Floridians who were stranded there [in Israel]. We don't want to just sit and wait. I don't want to see them dumped in Europe. I want to bring them back to the state of Florida."
On Monday, he told a radio host that the plane that landed in Tampa on Sunday held "mostly Floridians."
In fact, however, only about 70 people on that flight -- roughly one-fourth -- were from Florida, Project Dynamo's CEO said on Monday.
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ABC News also asked both DeSantis and his administration over the weekend what the flights cost but did not receive answers. Florida officials later offered some financial details on Tuesday.
In an interview with NewsNation, Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said the total cost of the flight that landed in Tampa was around $4 million, all paid for by the state.
That cost was for "all of the services, hotel stays, rental cars -- anything that we had to get to help the people get back to their homes," Guthrie said.
The $4 million covered just the flight, and services, that arrived in Tampa Sunday night. The state has paid for at least four other Project Dynamo flights that have also already landed -- each of which held no more than a dozen people, according to Stern.
At least one landed in Orlando with seven people, the DeSantis administration said Sunday in a statement.
On Wednesday, the governor posted on X that a sixth flight had arrived; he previously said that flight carried roughly 280 people.
"Florida has stepped up to assist our citizens in need," he said on X.
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