donald trump On Monday, he repeatedly unfold falsehoods in regards to the federal response to Hurricane Helene regardless of claiming he was not politicizing the catastrophe as he toured the hardest-hit areas in southern Georgia.
The previous president and Republican candidate said upon touchdown in Valdosta that President Joe Biden was ‘sleeping’ and never responding to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who he mentioned was “calling the president and has not been capable of attain him.” He repeated the declare at an occasion with reporters after being instructed Kemp mentioned he had spoken to Biden.
“He is mendacity, and the governor instructed him he was mendacity,” Biden mentioned Monday.
The White Home beforehand introduced that Biden spoke by telephone Sunday evening with Kemp and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, in addition to Scott Matheson, the mayor of Valdosta, Georgia, and the Florida Emergency Administration director, John Louk. Kemp confirmed Monday morning that he spoke with Biden the evening earlier than.
“The president known as me yesterday afternoon and I missed him and I known as him again and he simply mentioned, ‘Hey, what do you want?’ And I instructed him, you understand, we have now what we’d like, we’ll work by means of the federal course of,” Kemp mentioned. “He supplied to name him immediately if there have been different issues we would have liked, which I appreciated.”
Along with being humanitarian crises, pure disasters can create political checks for elected officers, notably within the remaining weeks of a presidential marketing campaign wherein battleground states North Carolina and Georgia had been among the many hardest-hit states. In current days, Trump has used the injury attributable to Helene to assault Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidateand means that she and Biden are taking part in politics with the storm, one thing he was accused of doing when he was president.
Biden is defiant about spending time at his seashore home.
Whereas the White Home highlighted Biden’s name to Kemp and others, the president confronted questions on his choice to spend the weekend at his seashore home in Delaware, somewhat than the White Home, to watch the storm.
“I used to be in cost,” Biden instructed reporters after delivering a speech on the White Home in regards to the federal authorities’s response. “Yesterday and the day earlier than yesterday I used to be on the telephone for at the very least two hours. I ordered it. It is known as a telephone.”
Biden acquired frequent updates on the storm, the White Home mentioned, as did Harris aboard Air Pressure Two whereas making a marketing campaign swing on the West Coast. The vp minimize brief her marketing campaign journey Monday to return to Washington for a briefing from the Federal Emergency Administration Company.
Trump, writing on his social media platform on Monday, additionally claimed with out proof that the federal authorities and North Carolina’s Democratic governor had been “doing every little thing they will to not assist individuals in Republican areas.” Asheville, which was devastated by the storm, is solidly Democratic, as is way of surrounding Buncombe County.
The demise toll from Helene has surpassed 100 individuals, with among the worst injury attributable to inland flooding in North Carolina.
Biden mentioned he’ll journey to North Carolina on Wednesday to see the devastation firsthand, however will restrict his footprint in order to not distract from ongoing restoration efforts.
Throughout his remarks Monday at FEMA headquarters, Harris mentioned he had acquired common briefings on the catastrophe response, together with from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, and had spoken with Kemp and Cooper up to now 24 hours.
“I’ve shared with them that we’ll do every little thing in our energy to assist communities reply and recuperate,” he mentioned. “And I’ve shared with them that I plan to be on the bottom as quickly as potential with out disrupting any emergency response operations.”
When requested if his go to was politicizing the storm, he frowned and shook his head however didn’t reply.
Trump partnered with Christian charity to deliver provides
The Trump marketing campaign partnered with the Christian reduction group Samaritan’s Purse to deliver vans of gasoline, meals, water and different important provides to Georgia, mentioned Karoline Leavitt, nationwide press secretary for the Trump marketing campaign.
Leavitt didn’t instantly reply to questions on how a lot had been donated and from what entity. Samaritan’s Purse additionally declined to deal with the matter in an announcement.
Trump additionally launched a GoFundMe marketing campaign for his supporters to ship monetary support to individuals affected by the storm. It shortly surpassed its $1 million aim Monday evening.
“Our hearts are with you and we might be with you so long as you want us,” Trump mentioned, flanked by a gaggle of elected officers and Republican supporters.
“We’re not speaking about politics now,” Trump added.
Trump mentioned he needed to cease in North Carolina, however refrained as a result of entry and communication are restricted within the hardest-hit communities.
When requested by The Related Press on Monday if he was involved that his go to to Georgia was taking away regulation enforcement assets that could possibly be used to answer disasters, Trump mentioned:
“No.” He mentioned his marketing campaign as an alternative “introduced a whole lot of assets.”
Katie Watson, who owns the house design retailer Trump visited along with her husband, mentioned she was instructed the previous president selected the placement as a result of he noticed pictures of the enterprise destroyed by particles and mentioned, “Discover that place and discover these individuals.” “.
“He did not come right here for me. He got here right here to acknowledge that this metropolis has been destroyed. It is a huge setback,” he mentioned.
“He acknowledges that we’re struggling and he needs us to realize it,” he added. “Assembly the president was a once-in-a-lifetime alternative. That is not precisely how I needed to do it.”
Trump marketing campaign officers have lengthy pointed to his go to to East Palestine, Ohio, the positioning of a poisonous path derailment, as a turning level within the early days of the presidential race, as he struggled to ascertain his place as candidate. They believed the nice and cozy welcome he acquired from residents pissed off by the federal authorities’s response helped remind voters why that they had been interested in him years earlier than.
Trump fought with Puerto Rico and meteorologists whereas he was president
Throughout Trump’s tenure as president, he visited quite a few catastrophe areas, together with the aftermath of hurricanes, tornadoes and shootings. However the journeys generally sparked controversy, similar to when he threw paper towels at cheering Puerto Rican residents in 2017 after Hurricane Maria.
It additionally took till weeks earlier than the 2020 presidential election for the Trump administration to launch $13 billion in help for the territory. A federal authorities watchdog discovered that officers hindered an investigation into delays in delivering support.
In one other incident in 2019, Trump administration officers admonished some meteorologists for tweeting that Alabama was not threatened by Hurricane Dorian, contradicting the then-president. Trump famously confirmed an altered map with a black Sharpie pen to point that Alabama could possibly be within the path of the storm.
