President Joe Biden on Monday gave a testy defense of his communications with areas that Hurricane Helene ravaged and his response to the massive storm.
“Why weren't you and Vice President [Kamala] Harris here in Washington commanding this this weekend?” a reporter asked Biden after he ended his news conference about the federal response to the storm.
“I was commanding. I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday and the day before as well,” Biden responded. “I command. It’s called a telephone.”
Over the weekend the president was in Delaware and Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, was on the campaign trail. Her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, who also hit the campaign trail, on Sunday accused Biden of “sleeping” at his beach house, and criticized Harris for holding fundraising events in California, while the storm wrecked the Southeast United States.
Trump is scheduled to check out storm damage in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday afternoon and to deliver remarks, while Harris is slated to visit FEMA headquarters for a briefing on Helene. Biden, meanwhile, said he will visit hurricane-ravaged areas later in the week so as to not risk “diverting or delaying” resources needed to respond to the storm.
At least 120 people have died across six states — Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee — after Helene ripped through southern parts of the United States. Many more remain missing.
The Category 4 hurricane made landfall Thursday on Florida’s Gulf Coast, wiping out entire towns and limiting power, cell service, and internet access for millions of Americans, according to poweroutage.us. Hundreds of roads remain closed, especially in the Carolinas, where emergency supplies are desperately needed.
The economic losses could total more than $110 billion, per preliminary estimates from AccuWeather, which would make Helene one of the costliest storms in U.S. history.
