White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was pressed on Monday about President Joe Biden‘s and Vice President Kamala Harris‘s whereabouts and handling of the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
During a White House press briefing, Jean-Pierre was asked why Biden was at his beach house and Harris at political fundraisers on the West Coast.
“The president did exactly what a president in this moment needs to do, which is directing his team to take action. One of the reasons that the FEMA administrator was here in this room on Thursday was that the president wanted to make sure that we were sending a message out to folks who were going to be impacted,” Jean-Pierre responded.
She reiterated Biden’s earlier comments regarding how he had been “on the phone for more than two hours” with governors and local elected officials to make sure they had what they needed.
Over the weekend, the Trump campaign slammed Harris for fundraising on the West Coast amid the hurricane wrecking numerous East Coast states.
Prior to the Monday press briefing, Biden got testy at a White House press conference where he grew defensive over questions on his leadership over the weekend while he was at his beach house in Delaware.
“And the hurricane. Mr. President, why weren’t you and Vice President Harris here in Washington commanding this, this weekend?” a reporter asked Biden.
“I was commanding it,” Biden shot back while he was leaving the room. “I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday and the day before as well. I command it. It’s called a telephone and all my security people.”
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Harris returned from Las Vegas on Monday afternoon and then visited FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C., for a briefing about the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Helene and the emergency response.
She had spent the weekend raising about $55 million in high-dollar campaign events while she was in California.