President Joe Biden, for the second day in a row, tore into former President Donald Trump for spreading misinformation about the federal government’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
On Thursday, Biden received an operational update on Milton, which made landfall Wednesday night in Florida, convened a Situation Room meeting to coordinate the federal response, and spoke to a number of Florida lawmakers. After remarks at the White House, Biden took jabs at the former president.
“Those who engage in such lies are undermining confidence in the rescue and recovery work that’s opening and ongoing,” he stated. “These lies are also harmful to those who most need help. Lives are on the line. People are in desperate situations. Have the decency to tell them the truth.”
Biden claimed that some first responders are receiving death threats due to Trump’s “relentless disinformation and outright lies.”
The president reiterated that “despite that misinformation and lies, the truth is we’re providing the resources needed to rescue and recover and rebuild.”
Trump and his allies continue to make claims about the Biden administration hurricane response that have been repeatedly debunked by media outlets. That list includes FEMA diverting disaster relief funds to house illegal immigrants, refusing to use helicopters to airlift stranded hurricane victims from flood zones, and capping federal relief for victims at $750.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) also made headlines and drew criticism from her fellow Republicans for claiming that the federal government is manufacturing hurricanes for political purposes.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Trump’s running mate, took a more tactful approach to criticizing Biden’s hurricane response in a Tuesday op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
“The Biden-Harris response to Hurricane Helene, the deadliest storm since Katrina, has the people of the Southeast and especially Appalachia paying an extraordinary price for the administration’s incompetence,” he wrote.
Following the president’s speech on Thursday, he fielded questions from reporters, including a number about the former president’s claims.
“Are you kidding me?” Biden responded when asked if he had spoken to Trump at all about the hurricanes. “Mr. President Trump. Former President Trump. Get a life, man. Help these people.”
Responding to a follow-up, Biden said the “public will hold him accountable” and implored the press to do the same “because you know the truth.”
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Finally, as the president was walking off the stage, he was asked if he had plans to reach out to Trump directly. “No,” Biden responded.
Biden’s remarks can be seen in full below.