President Biden ripped former President Donald Trump Wednesday for his criticism of the federal response to Hurricane Helene — as Category 3 Hurricane Milton approached the west coast of Florida as what Biden said could be the “storm of the century.”
The president, 81, focused repeatedly on Trump-led criticism of recovery efforts to Helene at a mid-day White House briefing on Milton — before giving an almost identical denunciation of the Republican presidential nominee in an evening address.
“The last few weeks, there’s been a reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people,” Biden said at the briefing with Vice President Kamala Harris, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and other officials.
“It’s undermining confidence in the incredible risk and recovery work that has already been taken and will continue to be taken. It’s harmful to those who need help the most. There’s simply no place for this to happen,” he added.
“Former President Trump has led the onslaught of lies. Assertions have been made that property is being confiscated. That’s simply not true. They’re saying people impacted by these storms receive $750 of cash and no more. That’s simply not true. They’re saying the money that is needed for this crisis is being diverted to migrants. What a ridiculous thing to say. It’s not true.”
Biden added: “Now the claims are getting even more bizarre. Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene — congresswoman from Georgia — is now saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather. We’re controlling the weather now. Ridiculous. It’s got to stop. In moments like this, there are no red or blue states. There’s one United States of America.”
In his evening remarks from the White House Roosevelt Room, Biden trashed Trump’s criticism of the federal response to Helene as “un-American” and called Greene’s remarks “so stupid.”
Trump has made a number of claims about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, which has killed at least 232 people across six states, making it the deadliest American hurricane since Katrina in 2005 — including saying that officials were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.”
Biden has sought out a warmer relationship with Republican governors in the region — praising Florida’s Ron DeSantis as “cooperative” and “doing a great job” Tuesday — despite Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, attacking DeSantis for not taking her call one day prior.
The president said Wednesday evening that DeSantis “has been very gracious” toward him and “thanked me for all we’ve done” — and tweeted an invitation to call if more was needed.
“Governor DeSantis and Mayor [Jane] Castor [of Tampa] – if you need any additional resources as we prepare for Hurricane Milton to make landfall, you give me a call,” Biden posted on X. “We’re here for you as long as it takes.”