Biden says he and first lady will travel to Hawaii ‘as soon as we can’
Christian Datoc
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President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he plans to travel to Hawaii to survey the cleanup and rescue effort responding to recent deadly wildfires.
Fires on multiple islands have killed 99 people as of Tuesday. Gov. Josh Green (D-HI) said that the casualty count could double in the coming days, as the state does not know how many evacuees are still unaccounted for.
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Biden opened his Tuesday afternoon remarks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, lamenting the lives lost and their loved ones.
“My wife Jill and I are going to travel to Hawaii as soon as we can,” the president stated. “That’s what I’ve been talking to Governor Green about. I don’t want to get in the way.
“I’ve been to too many disaster areas, but I want to go make sure we’ve got everything they need,” he continued. “I want to be sure we don’t disrupt the ongoing recovery efforts.”
The president later vowed to supply Hawaii with federal aid for “as long as it takes” to complete the cleanup effort.
Biden spent this past weekend vacationing in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and the White House had faced pointed questions about his failure to publicly address the disaster until Tuesday.
“No comment,” the president had simply told reporters during a brief exchange over the weekend.
“The president first addressed the wildfires in public remarks last Thursday in Salt Lake City,” White House principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton said Tuesday morning, defending Biden’s response. “He spoke to this. He put out a statement last week, and he began marshaling a whole-of-government response from day one.”
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You can watch Biden’s remarks in full below.
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