A visibly frustrated President Joe Biden rebuffed Donald Trump’s “irresponsible” claims that he hasn’t spoken with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp about the devastation from Hurricane Helene.
“He is lying. Let me get this straight: He’s lying, and the governor told him he’s lying,” Biden said from the Oval Office.
His remarks come hours after Trump lobbed the easily disproved attack, saying of Kemp: “He’s been calling the president. He hasn’t been able to get him.”
Kemp has also contradicted Trump’s claim, saying he and Biden had spoken directly and that the president told him to call the White House for whatever he needed.
“I don’t know why he does this,” Biden added. “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.”
Before telling reporters in Georgia that Biden was withholding support, Trump claimed on social media that the White House may be refusing aid to conservative areas of North Carolina, another state battered by the Category 4 storm.
“I’ll be there shortly, but don’t like the reports that I’m getting about the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of the State, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas. MAGA!” Trump wrote.
He then lobbed an even more provocative, baseless claim about Biden’s administration.
“They have left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South,” Trump wrote.
In reality, withholding natural disaster aid is part of the Trump playbook. When he was president in 2017, he denied $20 billion in congressionally approved aid to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. He also threatened to withhold federal assistance to wildfire-ravaged California.
The Biden administration has approved emergency requests for several states and dispatched about 3,600 officials to assist in recovery efforts across the affected region, where more than 100 people have died. He also said he expects to call a special session of Congress to secure supplemental funding.
No governors across the affected states have publicly complained about the White House response.