Angry Joe Biden rips ‘lying’ Trump for criticizing his Hurricane Helene response and defends spending weekend at the beach

An outraged President Joe Biden blasted Donald Trump for claiming he snubbed Georgia Governor Brian Kemp over hurricane relief on Monday, accusing his rival of lying.

He hit back amid the ultra-high-stakes clash over storm recovery, with Trump flying to Georgia and claiming Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had mismanaged the crisis. He even said Biden snubbed a key figure in the response, Kemp — an occasional Trump critic who supports his campaign.

“He called the president, but he couldn’t get a hold of him,” Trump claimed during a trip to Valdosta, Georgia.

That comment was directly contradicted by Kemp’s own comments Monday about his conversation with Biden Sunday, and Biden took on his rival when asked about it.

“He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying. The governor told him he was lying. I talked to the governor, spent time with him and he told him he’s lying. I don’t know why he’s doing it… that’s just not true, and it’s irresponsible,” Biden said.

He also defended his decision to spend most of the weekend in Delaware even as the storm’s wrath was unfolding.

‘Come on. Quit the game, will you,” he raged at a reporter who asked. He said where he lived: ‘it is.’ “90 miles from here, okay. And I was on the phone the whole time,” Biden said.

He also defended the positioning of resources before the storm, which had impacts well beyond Florida, where it made landfall. “It’s hard to get it from point A to point B,” he said, citing impassable roads and other challenges. “If I sound frustrated, I am,” he said.

Biden had also defended the trip earlier in the day when asked, “Why weren’t you and Vice President Harris leading the charge here in Washington this weekend?”

‘I was in command. Yesterday and the day before yesterday I spent at least two hours on the phone. I ordered it,” he said, before snapping, “It’s called a telephone.”

Trump made the accusation as he made the jump during a visit to assess the hurricane damage, with two politically crucial states – Georgia and North Carolina – hit by the storm, causing a growing number of deaths and massive damage.

Former President Donald Trump gained an edge over Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris by visiting Georgia

Trump was greeted on the ground in Georgia by Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse

“The president called me yesterday afternoon. I missed him and called him right back,” Kemp said. “And he just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?'”

Biden had previously made a preemptive move, saying he didn’t want to do anything to disrupt recovery efforts, and the White House talked about the large “footprint” the president brings with such a visit. Trump also brings a phalanx of security with him when he travels.

“I also want you to know that I am committed to traveling to the affected areas as quickly as possible. But I have been told it would be disruptive to do it now, we will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying the response resources needed to address this crisis,” Biden said Monday. morning. “My first responsibility is to get all the help needed to the affected areas.”

By the evening, Biden announced he would go to North Carolina on Wednesday.

Harris, meanwhile, flew back to Washington on Monday after swinging on the West Coast, canceling some planned campaign events and attending a FEMA briefing.

Trump, a New York transplant now living in Florida, is well aware of the long line of politicians who have seen an election storm reshuffle a race.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s embrace of Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy is widely seen as a boost to the Democrat’s re-election. Former New York Mayor John Lindsay lost a Republican primary after a winter snowstorm. And George W. Bush’s popularity declined after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.