Despite his claim that Monday’s speech was not about politics, former president Trump wasted no time slamming Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden for what he saw as their inadequate response during his appearance at a furniture company in hurricane-ravaged Valdosta, Georgia.
The United States is currently experiencing the last stages of a heated national election, as you may be aware. But when a disaster strikes and our fellow citizens beg for help, it all becomes irrelevant. This is not the time to discuss politics. Someone needs to rally us all and figure this out. Much assistance is required. The hurricane-ravaged town in Georgia needed “a lot of help down here,” Trump remarked.
Meanwhile, Trump implied that Biden and Harris weren’t doing enough to address the consequences of the hurricane, which impacted multiple states including North Carolina and Georgia, two areas that would be crucial in the 2018 election.
In response to reporters questioning Trump’s assertion of the response, Biden stated, “Let me get this straight — he’s lying,” at a hurricane briefing in the Oval Office held in the late afternoon. The reason I’m so enraged by his actions is that I couldn’t care less about his opinions of me; what matters is the message he conveys to those who are suffering. He seems to be suggesting that we aren’t making every effort. Yeah, we are. Yeah, we are.
It is, therefore, not true. Irresponsible, Biden remarked.
According to the Trump campaign, they worked with the humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse to deliver aid to the state of Georgia. According to a campaign official, it delivered two trucks loaded with supplies to Valdosta along with one gas tanker.
What the former president had to say was, “We have a lot of truckloads of different items, from oil to water to all sorts of equipment that’s going to help them.”
Nevertheless, in a later statement that was highly edited, the campaign claimed to have “partnered” with Samaritan’s Purse, implying that Trump did not personally provide supplies but rather collaborated with the nonprofit organization that was already present.
“Trump partnered with Samaritans Purse to provide truckloads of critical, much needed resources for the people of Georgia, including fuel and construction supplies,” stated Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Democratic candidate for president.
Nobody from the campaign got back to us when we asked them to define “partnered.”
Biden had earlier Monday stated that he had ordered his staff to “provide every, every available resource as fast as possible” to the impacted areas in order to aid in rescue efforts, recovery, and rebuilding.
Following the cancellation of her campaign activities and her return from Las Vegas, Harris went to the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, DC, to receive a briefing. She then gave a speech there on Monday afternoon.
“I have received regular briefings on the impact of Hurricane Helene, including from Administrator Criswell,” she informed employees of FEMA. “And over the past 24 hours, I have spoken with Governor Kemp of Georgia, Governor Cooper of North Carolina, and many local officials.”
She promised to come by when it would be least disruptive to the reaction.
I have informed them that we will make every effort to assist affected areas in responding and recovering, and I have also informed them that I intend to be there on the ground promptly. That must be our top priority, so we need to get this done quickly without interfering with emergency response operations, she said.
Speaking on Monday, Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood Randall stated that 3,500 federal response troops are already deployed and assisting with response efforts around the region. She also mentioned that more personnel are likely to arrive in the coming days.
“Search and rescue efforts by state, local, and federal partners are ongoing, and nearly 600 additional personnel will arrive in the region in the coming days, increasing the total number of urban search and rescue personnel to over 1,250,” she informed the media.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the United States Army Corps of Engineers are also preparing to send generators to states that have requested them.
Although the affected area is still facing significant communication challenges, Sherwood-Randall announced that “FEMA will install 30 Starlink receivers in western North Carolina to provide immediate connectivity for those in greatest need.”
On Sunday, while he was making his way back from the beach, Biden made it clear that his administration was undertaking all conceivable efforts to assist the impacted communities.
In response to ABC News’s question about whether additional federal funding could be provided, Biden said, “no, we’ve given them.”
“We have pre-planned a significant amount, even though they didn’t ask for it yet — hadn’t asked for it yet,” Biden told reporters Sunday.
During her speech in Las Vegas on Sunday, Harris promised to offer state and local officials with “any assistance they need in the days and weeks ahead,” as well as deploying food, water, and generators. She also promised to restore state and local leaders.
After describing Hurricane Helene as “not just a catastrophic storm, it’s historic, history, making storm,” Vice President Joe Biden promised to visit the affected area as soon as he is able to do so without being “disruptive,” which he hopes would be later this week.
In addition, please know that I intend to visit the affected regions as quickly as possible. It has been informed to me that taking action at this moment would cause disruption; thus, we will not take the chance of diverting or delaying any response assets that are necessary to address this issue, Biden stated on Monday. “My first responsibility is to get all the help needed to those impacted areas.”
When asked about the potential disruption caused by Trump’s visit to Georgia on Monday, Biden responded, “I don’t have any idea.”
Biden is “taking caution to avoid using critical resources that are needed right now, on the road, that, on the ground that people need,” according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who stated Monday that this “should be everyone’s top consideration right now.”
Rather than directly responding to the question of whether there have been requests for Trump to postpone his visit, Jean-Pierre reiterated Biden’s aim to preserve resources while adding, “he believes everybody should adhere-adhere to that.”
Neighbors were inundated, people were stranded, houses were demolished, and trees were toppled as a result of Hurricane Helene’s storm surge, wind damage, and inland flooding, which led to deviation and casualties in the states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. More than a hundred are still missing after the storm claimed the lives of at least 107.
