### Trump Criticizes Federal Response During Visit to Hurricane-Hit Georgia

During a visit to Valdosta, Georgia, Donald Trump made headlines by falsely accusing President Joe Biden of being unreachable in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Speaking in front of a furniture store heavily damaged by the storm, Trump claimed Georgia's Governor Brian Kemp had been unsuccessfully trying to contact Biden.

Trump further alleged that Biden had been "sleeping" and suggested that Kemp had struggled to get assistance from the President. Kemp, however, refuted these claims, stating that although he had been playing phone tag with Vice President Kamala Harris, he had spoken directly with Biden the previous afternoon. Kemp shared that the President had inquired about the state's needs and offered his help.

During a White House press briefing, Homeland Security Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall confirmed that President Biden had assured Kemp of the federal government's full support. "The president has offered Georgia anything it needs in terms of storm response," Sherwood-Randall said. She emphasized Biden's willingness to take Kemp's call should he need further assistance.

Trump arrived in the area accompanied by evangelist Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, bringing with them truckloads of relief supplies. However, the specifics of these resources were not detailed beyond mentions of a tanker of gasoline and water. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has deployed chaplains to the affected areas, according to its website.

Addressing the crowd in front of the storm-ravaged Chez What, a local furniture and fashion store, Trump expressed his solidarity with the people of Georgia and others suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Kemp reported that the hurricane had left approximately 1.3 million Georgians without power at its peak, with nearly 500,000 still in the dark as of Monday morning. The storm has claimed at least 25 lives in Georgia.

Although Trump's visit garnered attention, there was no repeat of the controversial scenes from his 2017 visit to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, where he was seen throwing paper towels into the crowd.

Sherwood-Randall reiterated that the federal government, under Biden's administration, is committed to ensuring that no community deals with such disasters alone. Emergency declarations have been approved for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee to facilitate a coordinated and effective response across local, state, and federal levels.