Biden angrily responds to Trump on hurricane response

President Joe Biden announced plans Monday to visit flood-ravaged North Carolina to survey the damage from Hurricane Helene, bristling at former President Donald Trump’s assertion that he had not been actively involved in responding to the disaster.

Biden, seated behind the Resolute Desk at the White House, appeared visibly frustrated when asked about the criticism from his predecessor.

“He’s lying,” Biden said. “I don’t know why he does this. And the reason I get so angry about it — I don’t care what he says about me — but I care what he communicates to the people that are in need. He implies that we’re not doing everything possible. We are.”

Biden, responding to what has become the familiar politics of natural disasters — supercharged in an election year — also defended his decision to work for part of the weekend from his Delaware beach house.

“It’s 90 miles from here,” Bdien said when asked if he regretted going to Delaware from Washington. “And I was on the phone the whole time.”

Biden said he would visit Raleigh on Wednesday for a meeting with the Emergency Operations Center and would take an aerial tour of the damage in the area. He also said he hoped to travel to Georgia and Florida “as soon as possible.”

Trump, who as president faced criticism for his response to Hurricane Maria , on Sunday criticized Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for not being in Washington over the weekend and not immediately traveling to the storm-ravaged region. He accused Biden of “sleeping” at his beach house, suggesting he was not focused on the recovery effort, and he attacked Harris for fundraising and campaigning in California and Nevada.

Trump on Monday traveled to Georgia to receive a briefing on the damage and distribute relief supplies.

Harris visited the FEMA headquarters Monday after returning from Las Vegas. A White House official said she spent the flight back calling leaders of impacted states, including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. She did not take questions from reporters at the disaster agency but gave a noticeable frown when asked if the response to Helene is being politicized.

Throughout the day, the White House stressed that the federal government would continue to surge resources to impacted areas. Earlier Monday, Biden said he may ask Congress to return early from its recess to pass supplemental disaster money to address the “broad and devastating impacts” of Helene.

“Homes and businesses have washed away in an instant. I want them to know we’re not leaving until the job is done,” Biden said. At that point, the president said he was waiting to announce his travel plans because he did not want a presidential visit to disrupt relief efforts.

Asked whether he felt that Trump’s visit to the region would be disruptive, Biden said: “I don’t have any idea.”

Biden said he didn’t know how much money he may have to request from Congress. His FEMA chief has suggested the financial stockpile is fine — for now.

“We absolutely have enough resources from across the federal family,” administrator Deanne Criswell said over the weekend on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Thanks to the government funding patch Congress cleared last week, the nation’s disaster relief fund is refilled to roughly $20 billion. Criswell estimated the cash will be enough to keep disaster response and recovery going at full force throughout the country until early January.

If Congress doesn’t clear an emergency disaster aid bill in the coming months, FEMA will likely need to switch in January to conserving cash by halting payments for work like repairing buildings while aid continues to go out for anything considered to be life sustaining or critical, Criswell predicted.

After Helene made landfall Thursday night in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, the storm tore through the Southeast, dumping rain on the region and causing unprecedented flooding and mudslides. The storm hit western North Carolina and rural parts of Tennessee and Georgia particularly hard, completely washing away some homes and leaving thousands of people still with little access to food, water or power.

Biden said that more than 100 people have died, and a staggering 600 people are still unaccounted for, in part because cell service has been knocked out and made it difficult for people to get in touch with family members.

“Communities are devastated. Loved ones waiting, not sure if their loved ones are okay,” Biden said. “There’s nothing like wondering, ‘Is my husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father alive?’”

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.