While former President Donald Trump tried to falsely claim that Brian Kemp, Georgia's Republican Governor, couldn't get President Joe Biden on the phone for Hurricane Helene relief, Kemp himself contradicted Trump's statements making clear just how helpful President Biden and VP Harris have been.
Hurricane Helene struck Florida on Thursday, then barreled through large sections of the southern and eastern U.S., resulting in at least 116 deaths and widespread destruction of homes and property.
On Friday, powerful wind gusts swept through Georgia, toppling trees, causing significant flooding, and leaving over half a million people without power. Crews in Georgia are working around the clock to clear debris and restore power, with emergency management teams deployed in 32 counties across the state.
On Monday, Trump visited Valdosta to survey the storm damage and after arriving, he took the opportunity to criticize Biden's response to the hurricane:
"We do need some help from the federal government. They have to get together, ideally with the governor. The governor, he's been trying to get them and I'm sure they're going to come through but he's been calling the president and hasn't been able to get him."
"But he'll come through, I'm sure."
But Kemp himself acknowledged he'd already spoken to Biden, telling reporters the following during a press conference:
“He just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I told him, you know, we got what we need. We will work through the federal process."
"He offered that if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly, which, I appreciate that. But we’ve had FEMA embedded with us since, you know, a day or two before the storm hit.”
You can hear their respective remarks in the videos below.
Moreover, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall confirmed that Biden and Kemp had spoken, assuring reporters that Biden would be available to take the governor's call if any additional needs arose during the recovery process.
A noticeably annoyed Biden called out Trump's lie himself, saying the following from the Oval Office:
“He is lying. Let me get this straight: He’s lying, and the governor told him he’s lying. I don’t know why he does this."
“And the reason I get so angry about this ― I don’t care what he says about me, I care what he communicates to the people that are in need. He implies that we’re not doing everything possible. ... It’s simply not true, and it’s irresponsible.”
Trump's remarks exposed him to significant criticism, with many pointing out that he was trying to use the storm and the deaths of innocent people to his own political advantage.
Kemp anticipates the cost of Hurricane Helene will exceed the damage from Hurricane Michael in 2018. He stated the storm "has been unlike any other storm I think we've ever faced because of the size of the wind field that this storm brought through and how it literally is affecting 159 counties, not just 20 or 30 counties in south Georgia."
Additionally, Georgia Power reports nearly double the damage to their system compared to the impact of Idalia in 2023. The company estimates over 5,000 power poles need to be repaired or replaced, more than 425 miles of wire were destroyed, 5,000 transformers were damaged, and crews must remove approximately 1,500 trees from power lines.
Amid this disaster, Politico reporters Natalie Allison and Megan Messerly noted that Trump did not abide by a "statesman's tone" in his remarks despite asserting that "we’re not talking about politics now." They observed that despite the "political benefits Trump has seemed to reap for being the first to show up at disaster sites — such as his visit to East Palestine, Ohio, early last year, when Biden had failed to go — his penchant for using any opportunity to smear his rivals was also on full display.
And for all Trump's claims that neither Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, haven't prioritized hurricane relief, Harris had immediately "canceled several informal campaign events in Las Vegas on Monday to return to Washington early to attend a meeting with federal emergency management officials Monday evening."
Both she and Biden are expected to visit the affected region tomorrow.
