SCRANTON, Pa. — Former President Trump is as soon as once more taking goal at President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over the federal authorities’s response to back-to-back harmful hurricanes which have focused the Southeast.
“The worst hurricane response since Katrina,” the previous president charged as he pointed to the much-maligned preliminary federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which was closely criticized for being sluggish and ineffective.
Trump, at a marketing campaign occasion in battleground Pennsylvania, spoke as an especially highly effective and harmful Hurricane Milton was hours away from slamming into Florida, and because the loss of life toll rises and greater than 100,000 folks stay with out energy or working water practically two weeks after Hurricane Helene tore a path of destruction via the southeastern U.S.
BIDEN CANCELS OVERSEAS TRIP AS MILTON BEARS DOWN ON FLORIDA
With lower than 4 weeks to go till Election Day in November, Trump and Harris are locked in a bitter margin-of-error showdown within the race to succeed Biden within the White Home, and with two of the hardest-hit states from Helene — North Carolina and Georgia — among the many seven key battlegrounds that can probably decide the result of the 2024 election, the politics of federal catastrophe aid are once more entrance and heart on the marketing campaign path.
EYE OF THE STORM: BACK-TO-BACK HURRICANES IMPACT HARRIS-TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Trump for practically two weeks has repeatedly attacked Biden and Harris and accused them of being incompetent.
“THE WORST RESPONSE TO A STORM OR HURRICANE DISASTER IN U.S. HISTORY,” Trump claimed in a social media put up on Tuesday.
“She’s simply led the worst rescue operation in historical past in North Carolina,” Trump charged at his Wednesday marketing campaign occasion, as he lobbed one other political bomb on the vice chairman. “The worst ever, they are saying.”
Vice President Kamala Harris greets individuals who had been impacted by Hurricane Helene in Augusta, Georgia, on Oct. 2 as Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson watches at proper. (AP Picture/Carolyn Kaster)
And the previous president as soon as once more made false claims that FEMA (Federal Emergency Administration Company) diverted cash supposed for catastrophe aid and spent it on undocumented migrants within the U.S. as he turned up the quantity on his inflammatory rhetoric over the flamable situation of unlawful immigration.
“You realize the place they gave the cash to: unlawful immigrants coming,” Trump mentioned as the group of MAGA supporters loudly booed.
CLICK HERE FOR UP-TO-DATE FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE STORMS
A few hours earlier, because the president and vice chairman acquired their newest briefing from FEMA and different federal businesses on storm preparations in Florida and aid efforts throughout the Southeast, Biden mentioned that “we now have made accessible an unprecedented variety of property to cope with this disaster, and we’re going to proceed to take action till the job is completed.”
President Biden talks with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell at Greenville-Spartanburg Worldwide Airport in Greer, South Carolina, on Oct. 2 to survey harm from Hurricane Helene. (AP Picture/Susan Walsh)
And the president had a message for his predecessor within the White Home.
“Over the previous few weeks, there was a reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies which might be disturbing folks. It’s undermining confidence within the unbelievable rescue and restoration work that has already been taken and can proceed to be taken, and it’s dangerous to those that need assistance probably the most. There may be merely no place for this to occur,” he mentioned.
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Pointing to the Republican presidential nominee, Biden mentioned that “former President Trump has led this onslaught of lies. Assertions have been made that property is being confiscated. That’s merely not true.”
Former President Trump speaks at a marketing campaign rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. (AP Picture/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Biden mentioned rhetoric from Trump and different Republicans was “past ridiculous” and that “it’s acquired to cease.”
“In moments like this, there are not any purple or blue states. There’s one United States of America, the place neighbors are serving to neighbors. Volunteers and first responders are risking every thing, together with their very own lives, to assist their fellow People; state, native and federal officers are standing aspect by aspect,” the president mentioned.
Harris, who in July changed Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, had an identical message throughout an interview Wednesday on the Climate Channel.
“This isn’t a time for us to only level fingers at one another as People,” Harris mentioned. “Anyone who considers themselves to be a pacesetter ought to actually be within the enterprise proper now of giving folks a way of confidence that we’re all working collectively and that we now have the assets and the flexibility to work collectively on their behalf, on behalf of the folks of our nation. And that is what I am targeted on.”
Earlier this week, Harris and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida traded fireplace over whether or not he ignored hurricane-related calls from her.
However with regards to the federal response, DeSantis, together with different Republican governors within the storm-affected area, had no complaints concerning the federal help.
The governor reiterated these feedback Tuesday morning in an interview on “FOX and Mates.”
“Each request that we’ve made — I’ve been in touch with the president, I’ve been in touch with the FEMA director. All of our requests have been answered,” DeSantis mentioned.
Fox Information’ Matthew Reidy and Matteo Cina contributed to this report.
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