The former president and Republican candidate claimed upon landing in Valdosta that President Joe Biden was “sleeping” and not responding to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who he said was “calling the president and couldn’t get through to him “. He repeated the claim at an event with reporters after being told that Mr. Kemp had said he had spoken to Mr. Biden.
“He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying,” Joe Biden said Monday.
The White House previously announced that President Biden spoke by phone Sunday evening with Mr. Kemp and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, as well as Scott Matheson, mayor of Valdosta, Georgia, and the director of the Florida Emergency Management John Louk. Brian Kemp confirmed Monday morning that he had spoken to Joe Biden the night before.
“The president called me 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, you know, we have what we need, we’re going to work through the federal process, Mr. Kemp said. He suggested we call him directly if we needed anything else, which I appreciated.”
In addition to being humanitarian crises, natural disasters can be political tests for elected officials, particularly in the final weeks of a presidential campaign in which North Carolina and Georgia, two states hardest hit , are among the battlefields.
Mr Trump has used Helene’s damage in recent days to attack Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, and suggest she and Joe Biden are playing politics with the storm – something he was accused of when he was president.
Biden on the defensive
As the White House highlighted Joe Biden’s call to Mr. Kemp and others, the president was asked 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,” Mr. Biden told reporters after giving a speech at the White House on the federal government’s response. “I spent at least two hours on the phone yesterday and the day before yesterday as well. I ordered everything. It’s called a telephone.”
Joe Biden received frequent updates on the storm, the White House said, as did Ms. Harris aboard Air Force Two while on a campaign tour of the West Coast. The vice president cut short her campaign trip Monday to return to Washington for a Federal Emergency Management Agency briefing.
Donald Trump, writing on his social media platform Monday, also claimed without evidence that the federal government and North Carolina’s Democratic governor were “doing everything possible not to help people in Republican areas.” Asheville, which was devastated by the storm, is solidly Democratic, as is much of Buncombe County, which surrounds it.
Helen’s death toll surpassed 100 people, with some of the worst damage from inland flooding in North Carolina.
Joe Biden said he would travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to see the devastation firsthand, but would keep a low profile so as not to distract from ongoing recovery efforts.
During her speech Monday at FEMA headquarters, Harris said she had received regular briefings on the disaster response, including from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, and had spoken with Mr Kemp and Mr Cooper in the last 24 hours.
“I told them we would do everything we could to help communities respond and recover,” she said. And I told them I planned to be on the ground as soon as possible without disrupting emergency response operations.”
Asked if her visit politicized the storm, she frowned and shook her head, but did not respond.
Donald Trump partners with Christian charity
The Trump campaign partnered with the Christian relief organization “Samaritan’s Purse” to bring truckloads of fuel, food, water and other essential supplies to Georgia, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said national campaign of the Trump campaign.
Ms. Leavitt did not immediately respond to questions about the amount of donations. “Samaritan’s Purse” also declined to address the issue in a statement.
Mr. Trump also launched a “GoFundMe” campaign with a goal of $1 million for supporters to send financial aid to those affected by the storm.
“Our hearts are with you and we will be with you as long as you need us,” said the former president, flanked by a group of elected officials and Republican supporters.
“We’re not talking politics right now,” Mr. Trump added.
He said he wanted to stop in North Carolina, but was waiting because access and communication are limited in hard-hit communities.
When asked by the Associated Press (AP) on Monday if he was concerned that his visit to Georgia would deprive law enforcement of resources that could be used for disaster response, Donald Trump replied: “No.” He said his campaign instead “brought in a lot of carloads of resources.”
Katie Watson, who with her husband owns the interior design store that Mr. Trump visited, said she was told the former president chose the location because he saw images of the business destroyed by rubble and had said, “Find this place and find these people.”
“He didn’t come here for me. He came here to recognize that this city has been destroyed. “It’s a big setback,” she said.
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