Trump visits hurricane-ravaged Georgia and makes false claims about Biden | Hurricane Helene

Donald Trump spoke Monday outside a furniture store destroyed by Hurricane Helene in Valdosta, Georgia, falsely claiming that Georgia Gov. Joe Biden had been unable to reach him.

Upon landing in Valdosta, Trump claimed to reporters that the president was “asleep” and that Brian Kemp, the governor, “called the president and couldn’t reach him.” He repeated the false claim while speaking outside the store.

Kemp denied the claim earlier in the day. He said he played phone tag with Vice President Kamala Harris, but also said, “The president just called me yesterday afternoon and said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’ … He offered to just call him directly if we needed anything else, which I really appreciated.”

During the White House press conference on Monday, Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth said Sherwood-Randall said the president offered Kemp “everything” Georgia needed in terms of storm response.

“So if the governor wants to speak to the president again, of course the president will take his call,” Sherwood-Randall said.

Trump traveled to the area with evangelist Franklin Graham, CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and truckloads of supplies.

“We brought many, many wagons of resources,” he said, without really describing what resources were involved other than a tanker truck with gasoline and some water. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association did not respond to a request for comment, although its website said it had sent chaplains to affected areas.

“We are here today to stand in full solidarity with the people of Georgia and everyone suffering from the terrible consequences of Hurricane Helene,” Trump said in front of the crumbling brick facade of Chez What, a furniture and fashion collective in Valdosta. Trump was flanked by Lt Gov Burt Jones and local elected officials.

Valdosta is in south Georgia and is still digging out from Hurricane Helene. The storm killed at least 25 people in the state. At the height of the destruction of Helene, about 1.3 million Georgians lost power, Kemp said Monday at a briefing in Augusta, hours before Trump’s arrival. Nearly 500,000 people were still without power Monday morning, Kemp said.

There has been no repeat, at least so far, of a scene from a disaster photo op seven years ago in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when the former president threw paper towels into a crowd without power two weeks after Hurricane Maria destroyed 93% of the island.

Harris canceled events on Monday and was informed by Fema in Washington DC.

“President Biden and I remain committed to ensuring that no community or state must respond to this disaster alone,” she said. “Federal personnel are on site to support affected families so that critical resources such as food, water and generators are available. We have also approved emergency declarations for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, providing resources and funding to maximize our coordinated response efforts at the local, state and federal levels.”