On September 30, 2024, Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Trump arrived at the Valdosta Regional Airport in Valdosta, Georgia, to visit areas affected by Hurricane Helen.
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to speak and help distribute supplies in the hurricane-ravaged swing state of Georgia on Monday, a day after he used the devastating storm to launch a political attack on Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Trump’s campaign said Sunday afternoon that Trump will travel to the southern city of Valdosta to receive a briefing on the impact of Hurricane Helene and “facilitate the distribution of relief supplies” before addressing the media at 2 p.m. ET .
The short-notice trip comes as Vice President Harris canceled a planned campaign stop in Las Vegas to return to Washington, D.C., to brief the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said earlier Monday that he and Harris wanted to Travel to hurricane-damaged areas Once they determine their presence will not disrupt emergency response efforts. He later said he expected to travel on Wednesday or Thursday.
Hurricane Helen brought heavy rain overnight in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 27, 2024. Streets and homes near Peachtree Creek were flooded, and people threw buckets of water out of their homes.
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The death toll has risen to 116 since the hurricane made landfall in northern Florida as a Category 4 storm Thursday night, according to an NBC News tally.
At least 25 people have died in Georgia, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said at a news conference Monday morning. Deaths have also been reported in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Heavy rainfall, high winds and flooding left millions without power and left entire towns — including those hundreds of miles inland, including Asheville, North Carolina — under several feet of water.
On Sunday, Trump used politically charged terms to attack Biden and Harris for their response to Helen.
“When so much of our country was devastated by that massive hurricane and underwater and a lot of people died, they raised a lot of money from bad people, with crazy donors from the radical left,” Trump said on the campaign trail. Fundraiser together.
“She’s supposed to be here. She’s supposed to be where she’s supposed to be. That’s why she gets paid, right? That’s why she gets paid.”
The Harris campaign and its allies have slammed Trump’s remarks about Helen at a rally in Michigan on Friday, when he told those affected by the hurricane, “We are with you every step of the way, and if we are there, We’ll help you and you’ll be fine.
The Harris campaign’s social media accounts quickly shared the video, suggesting Trump was downplaying the disaster. As of Monday morning, the video had been viewed more than 5 million times on X, according to the site.
Trump allies say the clip was taken out of context defend his remarkssaid he was providing comfort to victims of the storm.
But some of the former president’s opponents compared the remark to Trump’s insensitive responses to previous natural disasters, including his fall. Paper towel roll People who survived the 2017 hurricane in Puerto Rico.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
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