Hurricane Helene is shifting the presidential candidates’ plans this week.
Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is cutting short a campaign visit to Las Vegas to return to Washington for briefings. Republican candidate Donald Trump is heading to Georgia to see the storm’s impact.
Hurricane Helene’s death toll is more than 100 people and rising, with some of the worst damage caused by inland flooding in North Carolina.
In addition to being humanitarian crises, natural disasters can create political tests for elected officials, particularly in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign.
Presidents typically avoid racing toward disaster zones so they don’t interfere with recovery efforts. The White House said Harris would visit impacted areas “as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations.”
President Joe Biden spoke about his administration’s response to Hurricane Helene and plans to visit areas affected by the storm later this week.
GoFundMe
A GoFundMe campaign launched by former president Donald Trump to help the victims of Hurricane Helene has raised more than $1 million.
The website calls the effort “an official response for MAGA supporters to offer their financial assistance to their fellow Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene” and promises that all donations will be directed to those who have been impacted by the devastation.
Trump earlier Monday paid a visit to Valdosta, Georgia, and said he had brought with him supplies, including fuel, that will be distributed by the Christian relief group Samaritan’s Purse.
Former President Trump criticized the Biden administration’s response to the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.
Biden vs. Trump
President Biden criticized Trump for “lying” about federal contacts with Georgia officials during the response to Hurricane Helene. Trump claimed during a Monday tour of the damage that Biden hadn’t been in touch with the state’s Republican governor. “He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying.”
“I don’t know why he does this,” Biden continued. “I don’t care about what he says about me, but I care what he what he communicates to people that are in need. He implies that we’re not doing everything possible. We are. We are.”
White House Karine Jean-Pierre during her daily press briefing noted that Kemp himself told reporters that he spoke to Biden on Sunday and that the president asked him what Georgia needed.
The president’s homeland security adviser, Liz Sherwood-Randall, said that Biden made clear that he offered Kemp “anything” Georgia needed for its response to the storm and remains available to the governor.
“So, if the governor would like to speak to the president again, of course, the president will take his call,” Sherwood-Randall said.
Trump also criticized Vice President Harris for “campaigning and looking for money.” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, both Republicans, did not attack the federal response Monday morning at a news conference in hard-hit Augusta.
“Just know that we will work in a bipartisan way on disaster relief in this state with our federal, state and local partners,” said Kemp, who has often been the subject of attacks by Trump before the former president and Kemp recently patched things up.
The two-term governor said he spoke directly to Biden on Sunday evening and has “been playing phone tag” with Harris.
“The president just called me yesterday afternoon and I missed him and called him right back and he just said ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I told him, you know, we’ve got what we need, we’ll work through the federal process,” Kemp said. “He offered if there are other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that. But we’ve had FEMA embedded with us since a day or two before the storm hit in our state operations center in Atlanta. We’ve got a great relationship with them.”
Visiting Ga.
Trump says is he heading to Valdosta, Georgia, and bringing along “lots of relief material, including fuel, equipment, water, and other things” to help those struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Trump says in a post on his social media site that he will be joined by “Many politicians and Law Enforcement,” including evangelist Franklin Graham, whose organization, Samaritan’s Purse, has been helping with disaster relief, and Valdosta’s mayor.
He adds that he was going to stop into North Carolina, and has “lot of supplies ready for them,” but that he is postponing that part of his trip because “access and communication is now restricted” and so that local emergency management “is able to focus on helping the people most affected, and not being concerned with me.”
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