President Joe Biden told reporters that it was “irresponsible” for former President Donald Trump to lie about White House efforts to address Georgia’s needs after the Peach State got pummeled by Hurricane Helene last week.
Trump claimed during a stop in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday that state Governor Brian Kemp was “having a hard time” calling Biden on the phone to discuss federal emergency relief as the Southeast grapples with the devastation inflicted by Helene.
The former president told reporters that he had heard the Biden administration was “not being responsive” to requests from Kemp, a Republican who endorsed Trump in November over Vice President Kamala Harris. But Kemp had said earlier in the day that he spoke with Biden Sunday evening on the phone, and that the president was ready to provide Georgia with any aid necessary.
“He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying,” Biden said in response to Trump’s comments on Monday, according to a pool report from the White House.
“I’ve spoken to the governor, spent time with him, and he told [Trump] he’s lying,” Biden added. “I don’t know why [Trump] does it … that’s simply not true, and it’s irresponsible.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign late Monday night for comment.
Kemp told reporters that when he spoke with Biden, the president had asked him, “what do you need?”
“And I told him, you know, we got what we need,” Kemp continued. “We’ll work through the federal process.”
The Georgia leader added that Biden said “that if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly, which, I appreciate that.”
Helene made landfall in Florida’s Panhandle on Tuesday and is shaping as one of the region’s deadliest disasters in recent years. As of Monday, 133 deaths across six states have been reported in connection to the storm, and destruction can be seen from the Gulf Coast, north to Appalachia, according to the Associated Press.
Trump’s visit on Monday to storm-battered areas in southern Georgia puts pressure on the Biden administration as the presidential election nears. Biden has faced questions over his decision to spend the past week at his beach house in Delaware rather than visit the areas pounded by the storm. The president said at a Monday news conference that he plans to visit some areas later this week, adding that it would be “disruptive if I did right now.”
“It’s not just a catastrophic storm, it’s a historic, history-making storm,” Biden added. “Communities are devastated.”
Harris has also faced criticism for not visiting the damaged regions, although people close to the matter have said that the vice president has spoken to state leaders of the areas most impacted and has been briefed on the strife by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Harris also spoke at FEMA’s headquarters on Monday, and said to those who were hammered by the storm, “Our nation is with you.”
“We will continue to do everything we can to help you recover and to help you rebuild no matter how long it takes,” she added.
Trump raged in a post to his Truth Social account Monday afternoon that Harris “has no clue what she is doing” in addressing areas hit by Hurricane Helene and bashed the Biden-Harris administration for leaving “Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.”
“Under this Administration, Americans always come last, because we have ‘leaders’ who have no idea how to lead!” Trump added.
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