A war of words continues between President Biden and former President Trump over the federal government's response to the series of devastating hurricanes that hit the Southeast.
After Trump continued to accuse Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris of being slow and ineffective in steering the government's response to the storm, the president hit back again.
Biden told reporters Thursday that Trump needs to “save lives and help these people.”
“The public will hold him accountable” for making false claims about FEMA's ability to assist storm victims.
The former president's son Eric Trump posted on X on Wednesday that his family had opened one of their hotels in Florida to house more than 200 linemen helping in the storm's aftermath.
President Trump also launched a GoFundMe campaign for victims of Hurricane Helen in Georgia, which has so far raised more than $7 million.
Consecutive Hurricanes Rock Presidential Election
President Joe Biden speaks and provides an update on the impact of Hurricane Milton and the ongoing response at the South Court Auditorium in the White House complex on Thursday, October 10, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The president spoke as Hurricane Milton carved a path of destruction through central and northern Florida late Wednesday and into Thursday, leaving millions of Floridians without power.
Meanwhile, cleanup and recovery efforts continue in the Southeast, which was hit hard by Hurricane Helen about two weeks ago.
With less than four weeks left until November's election day, Harris and Trump face a close battle in the race to succeed Biden in the White House and in two of the hardest-hit states, Helen. is trapped in. NORTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA — Among the seven major battleground states likely to determine the outcome of the 2024 election, the politics of federal disaster relief are once again front and center in the campaign.
Click here for the latest FOX News report on the storm
“Vice President Harris and I are in constant communication with state and local officials. We are providing them with everything they need,” Biden said Thursday.
Among those the president met with was Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Although Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Harris engaged in a back-and-forth this week over whether he ignored her hurricane-related calls, the governor and Mr. Biden have worked together on storm response and relief efforts.
“I spoke with the president this morning,” DeSantis said during one of his many briefings Thursday. “He said he wants to help. So he said, send us any requests you have and he wants to help us get the job done. So, federal, state, local I am grateful to be able to cooperate beyond local government boundaries.''I would like to work with the government and put the people first. ”
Despite those comments and others from Mr. DeSantis and other key Republican leaders in the storm-hit Southeast, Mr. Trump continued to criticize Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris.
DeSantis and Harris engage in hurricane call
“This is in response to the worst storm and hurricane disaster in American history,” President Trump said in a social media post Tuesday.
The former president on Wednesday pointed to the federal government's much-criticized initial response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as slow and ineffective, calling it “the worst hurricane response since Katrina.”
President Trump, speaking at a campaign rally in battleground Pennsylvania, dropped another political bombshell on Harris, saying, “She just led the worst rescue operation in history in North Carolina…calling it the worst in history.” ' he claimed.
And the former president again raised the volume of his inflammatory rhetoric around the combustible issue of illegal immigration, falsely claiming that FEMA diverted funds meant for disaster relief and spent them on illegal immigrants in the United States.
For the latest FOX News weather updates on Hurricane Milton, go here.
“You know where they put the money, illegal immigrants are coming,” Trump said as a crowd of MAGA supporters booed loudly.
Hours later, Biden fired back, accusing the Republican presidential candidate of leading an “onslaught of lies.”
Mr. Biden called the comments by Mr. Trump and other Republicans “outrageous” and “must stop.”
But on Thursday, Trump continued his attacks at a campaign event in Michigan. He praised Southern Republican governors for doing a “great job” in responding to the storm, arguing that “the federal government, on the other hand, is not doing what it should be doing, especially in North Carolina.” They have made those people suffer unjustly and unjustly. ”
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris greets those affected by Hurricane Helen on Wednesday, October 2, 2024 in Augusta, Georgia. Augusta Mayor Garnet Johnson looks on on the right. (AP Photo/Carolyn Custer) (AP Photo/Carolyn Custer)
Harris also rebuked Trump in a Wednesday interview with the Weather Channel.
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“Now is not the time as Americans to point fingers at each other,” the vice president said. “If you consider yourself a leader, now is the time to engage in work that gives people confidence that we are all in this together and that we have the resources and ability to work together on their behalf.”
Fox News' Kirill Clark and Matteo Sina contributed to this report
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