U.S. President Joe Biden slammed former President Donald Trump, accusing him of spreading misinformation about the response to recent hurricanes and telling him to “get a life, man.”
During a White House address on the government’s response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene on Thursday, President Biden denounced the “reckless, irresponsible and relentless disinformation and outright lies that continue to flow.”
The White House, with Biden leading the charge, has spent days condemning Trump for spreading false claims about the disaster response. Among the misinformation: Trump alleged that federal funding was being redirected to aid people in the country illegally and that disaster relief was capped at $750. Biden clarified that the $750 figure refers to an immediate disbursement intended to cover urgent needs, such as food, diapers and baby formula.
“That $750 that they’re talking about, Mr. Trump and all those other people know it’s a lie to suggest that’s all they’re going to get,” Biden said during his address on Thursday. “It’s just bizarre. They got to stop this. They’re being so damn un-American with the way they’re talking about this stuff.”
Biden was also asked if he planned to speak directly with Trump, but the president said he had no plans to do so. Instead, Biden said to the TV cameras at the event: “Mr. President Trump, former President Trump, get a life, man. Help these people.”
U.S. President Joe Biden gives remarks on the effects of Hurricane Milton in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus on October 10, 2024, in Washington, DC. During his speech, Biden took aim at former President Donald Trump’s remarks about the recent hurricanes, telling him to “get a life, man.”
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
At one point, Biden remarked that first responders working to save lives had faced “death penalties,” though it was unclear if he intended to say “death threats.”
Trump and a number of his Republican allies have been pushing unsubstantiated claims this week concerning the response of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to Helene, which left over 200 people dead and dealt massive damage to infrastructure when it ripped through the Southeast last week.
On Thursday, an op-ed published by a newspaper in Trump’s home-state of Florida, slammed the former president’s recent remarks, calling them “garbage.”
The Miami Herald opinion piece, written by David Mastio, criticized Trump’s assertions about federal emergency management, namely “Trump’s allegation that the Biden-Harris administration has ‘stolen’ funds meant for natural disaster relief to deal with the man-made crisis at the border in which millions of immigrants flooded our country in large part because the Biden-Harris administration loosened Trump-era asylum restrictions.”
Trump also falsely claimed that Republican Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia, with whom he held a joint news conference concerning disaster relief efforts, was unable to speak with Biden about federal disaster assistance over the phone.
While appearing on CNN last week, Geoff Duncan, the Republican former lieutenant governor of Georgia, who endorsed Harris in the 2024 election, slammed Trump’s remarks.
“It’s a sobering reminder of where the Republican Party is at right now, and how deep in the gutter we truly are,” Duncan told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “To think that we’re going to use this platform to politicize…one of the worst storms to hit this region ever.”
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
