VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) – Donald Trump on Monday spoke out about Hurricane Helen during a tour of hard-hit areas in southern Georgia, despite insisting he was not politicizing the disaster. repeatedly spread falsehoods about the federal government’s response to
When the former president and Republican candidate arrived in Valdosta, he said President Joe Biden was “sleeping” and not answering Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, adding: “I’ve been calling the president and he’s not getting through. ‘ he claimed. After being told that Kemp had spoken to Biden, he repeated that claim at an event with reporters.
“He’s lying, and the governor has told him he’s lying,” Biden said Monday.
The White House earlier said Biden spoke by phone Sunday night with Kemp and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Valdosta, Ga., Mayor Scott Matheson, and Florida Emergency Management Director John Luke. announced. Kemp confirmed Monday morning that he had spoken to Biden the night before.
“I just got a call from the president yesterday afternoon, and I missed him so I called him right back and he just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?'” And I told him, “What do you need?” We said we have everything, and we’re going to go through the federal process,” Kemp said. “He offered to call me directly if I needed anything else, which I appreciated.”
In addition to humanitarian crises, natural disasters can pose political challenges for elected officials, especially the president, whose battleground states North Carolina and Georgia are among the hardest-hit states. This is true in the final weeks of the election campaign. In recent days, President Trump has used the damage caused by Helen to attack Democratic candidate Harris, suggesting that she and Biden are stirring up a political storm. he was accused of doing something When he was president.
Biden defiant about spending time at his beach house
The White House emphasized Biden’s call to Kemp and others, but the president faced questions about his decision to spend the weekend at his Delaware beach house rather than at the White House to monitor the storm.
“I was in charge,” Biden told reporters after speaking at the White House about the federal response. “I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday and the day before. I ordered it. That’s called a phone call.”
AP Washington Correspondent Sagar Meghani reports that President Donald Trump is touring the damage caused by Hurricane Helen in Georgia while slamming the Biden administration’s response to the deadly storm.
The White House said Biden received frequent updates about the storm and Harris was also on Air Force Flight 2 during the West Coast tour. The vice president cut short his campaign trip on Monday and returned to Washington to receive a briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
President Trump wrote on his social media platforms on Monday, claiming without evidence that the federal government and North Carolina’s Democratic governor “do not go out of their way to help the people in our Republican areas.” Asheville, which was devastated by the storm, is solidly Democratic, like much of the surrounding Buncombe County.
number of deaths More than 100 people died from Helen, the worst inland flooding in North Carolina.
Biden said he would visit North Carolina on Wednesday to see the devastation firsthand, but would limit his footprint so as not to disrupt ongoing recovery efforts.
In remarks Monday at FEMA headquarters, Harris said she receives regular briefings on disaster response from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and others, and that she had spoken with Kemp and Cooper in the past 24 hours. said.
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“I shared with them that we will do everything in our power to support the community response and recovery,” she said. “And we shared with them that we intend to arrive on scene as quickly as possible without disrupting emergency response operations.”
Asked if her visit would politicize the storm, she frowned and shook her head but did not answer.
President Trump partnered with Christian charities to deliver supplies
The Trump campaign partnered with the Christian humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse to truck fuel, food, water and other critical supplies to Georgia, said Caroline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national spokeswoman. .
Mr. Levitt did not immediately respond to questions about how much money was donated by which organizations. Samaritan’s Purse also declined to discuss the matter in a statement.
President Trump also launched a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $1 million for his supporters to send economic aid to those affected by the storm.
“Our hearts are with you and we will be with you as long as you need us,” President Trump said, surrounded by elected officials and Republican supporters.
Trump added: “We’re not talking politics right now.”
Trump said he had wanted to make a stop in North Carolina, but was holding off because of limited access and communications in the hard-hit region.
Asked by The Associated Press on Monday if he was concerned that his trip to Georgia would take away law enforcement resources that could be used to respond to disasters, Trump said “no.” Instead, he said, his campaign “carried a bunch of wagons full of resources.”
Katie Watson, who with her husband runs the home design store that President Trump visited, said the former president saw a photo of the store destroyed by rubble and said, “Find that place, find those people.” He said he was told that the location had been chosen.
“He didn’t come here for me. He came here to realize that this town was destroyed. It’s a huge setback,” she said.
“He knows we are hurting and he wants us to know that,” she added. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the president, and this is not exactly the way I wanted to do it.”
Trump campaign officials have long said, pointed to his visit To East Palestine, Ohio, where a deadly trail derailment occurred, marking a turning point in the early days of a presidential campaign where he was struggling to gain a foothold as a candidate. They believed his warm reception by residents who had been dissatisfied with the federal government’s response helped remind voters of what drew them to him years ago.
Trump fought with Puerto Rico and meteorologists during his presidency.
Trump has visited numerous disaster areas during his presidential term, including hurricanes, tornadoes and the aftermath of mass shootings. However, the trip has sometimes been controversial, such as when he threw paper towels at cheering residents in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
It also took until weeks before the 2020 presidential election for the Trump administration to announce $13 billion in aid to the territory. A federal watchdog agency found authorities obstructed an investigation into delays in aid delivery.
In another incident in 2019, Trump administration officials admonished Some meteorologists tweeted that Alabama was not under threat from Hurricane Dorian, contradicting the president at the time. President Trump famously displayed a map altered with a black Sharpie pen to show that Alabama could be in the storm’s path.
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Fernando reported from Chicago and Amy from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Chris Megerian and Aamer Madani in Washington, and Will Weissert in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
