President Joe Biden asserted on Monday he was “commanding” the response to Hurricane Helene and its remnants over the weekend despite not being in Washington, D.C.
At the White House, after speaking about what the federal government was doing to assist local officials contend with the devastation from the storm, Biden responded to a question about not being around over the past couple of days. He had spent time in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
“On the hurricane, why weren’t you and Vice President Harris here in Washington commanding this this weekend?” a reporter asked, to which Biden responded, “I was commanding. I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday and the day before as well. … It’s called a telephone.”
President Biden on federal response to Hurricane Helene: "We are not leaving until the job is done." pic.twitter.com/HdODPFtH8y
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 30, 2024
Helene, which became a Category 4 hurricane before making landfall late on Thursday, swept through the southeastern U.S. into the weekend. As of mid-day Monday, the Associated Press reported at least 107 deaths across multiple states, including 30 people killed in the county where Asheville, North Carolina, is located, and efforts to provide relief to flooded areas were ongoing.
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Biden approved disaster relief for North Carolina and other states to make federal resources available to help with the recovery operations. Harris, who traveled to California for lucrative fundraising events for her presidential campaign over the weekend, shared on social media a photo of herself working and said she spoke with leaders about the severe weather.
Former President Donald Trump, who is engaged in another bid for the White House this year, shared a screenshot of Harris’ post to his Truth Social platform and claimed it was another “FAKE and STAGED photo from someone who has no clue what she is doing.” He also claimed Biden and Harris “left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.”
Another FAKE and STAGED photo from someone who has no clue what she is doing. You have to plug the cord into the phone for it to work! Biden and Harris abandoned Americans in Afghanistan. They sacrificed Americans to an Open Border, and now, they have left Americans to drown in… pic.twitter.com/GsVBxxINF2
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) September 30, 2024
While Trump is slated on Monday to visit a city in Georgia that was slammed by Hurricane Helene, Biden and Harris are not expected to make the trip down south until later this week at the earliest over claims that going sooner would risk disrupting emergency response operations.