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Trump incorrectly says that the governor of Georgia could not talk to Biden about storm damage
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Trump incorrectly says that the governor of Georgia could not talk to Biden about storm damage

Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has been unable to reach President Joe Biden to discuss Hurricane Helene’s impact on his state.

“He called the president but couldn’t get a hold of him,” Trump said during a news conference at a furniture store in Valdosta, Georgia.

Still, Kemp, a Republican, said earlier in the day that he initially missed Biden’s call, but he called back and the two were able to connect Sunday evening.

“He just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?'” Kemp told reporters. “And I told him, you know, we have what we need. We will work through the federal process.”

Kemp said Biden told him to call directly if he needed additional resources. Kemp said he was “playing phone” with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, but praised the bipartisan response.

Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Florida Panhandle last Thursday evening before moving through Georgia, leaving more than 500,000 people without power. It then moved further north, causing record flooding in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.

The death toll from Hurricane Helene now stands at 116 in six states, according to an NBC News count. A third of them were reported in North Carolina. The numbers are likely to increase as recovery and search efforts are underway.

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend on Thursday evening with winds of up to 230 km per hour.
A look at storm damage at a furniture store in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Valdosta, Georgia. Sean Rayford/Getty Images file

Just before incorrectly noting that Kemp and Biden had not spoken, Trump acknowledged that the storm hit just weeks before a major presidential election but said politics were not on his mind.

“At a time like this, when a crisis strikes and our fellow citizens cry out in distress, none of that matters,” Trump said. “We are not talking about politics.”

However, Trump has used social media to take overt political shots at Harris, who posted a message on X saying she had been briefed by the FEMA administrator, accompanied by a photo.

Republicans have ridiculed the photo, saying the sheets of paper look blank and claiming the headphones are not plugged into anything.

“Another FAKE and STAGED photo of someone who has no idea what she is doing,” Trump wrote. “You have to plug the cord into the phone for it to work!”

NBC News reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.

Trump has also said that the federal government and Democratic governors, including Roy Cooper of North Carolina, are “doing their level best not to help people in Republican areas.”

When NBC News asked Trump about that comment after his news conference in Valdosta, the former president said, “Just take a look,” but did not respond to follow-up requests for comment.

Besides Trump falsely claiming that Kemp had been unable to make contact with Biden, Trump’s brief remarks focused largely on the truckloads of supplies that arrived with him, including water and fuel.

“We brought a lot of things… trailers, a lot of trailers,” Trump said.

Trump also gave a direct shout-out to Elon Musk, with whom he said he had spoken directly about setting up Starlink, portable internet devices from SpaceX, a space company run by Musk.

“I just talked to Elon, we want to connect Starlink,” Trump said. “They have no communication whatsoever.”

Local lawmakers in Georgia praised Trump for coming — but some also wished he had postponed his visit to the region until more order had been restored after the destruction caused by the storm.

Scott James Matheson, the nonpartisan mayor of Valdosta, said he would have preferred Trump to arrive later in the week so emergency operations could continue longer. Still, he said he was “pretty excited” and that “we want the attention and I certainly love the assistant he brings.”

“I would have loved it Wednesday, Thursday or Friday,” he told NBC News ahead of Trump’s visit, adding: “We’re not going to say ‘no’.”

“We’ll get through it and get right back to work,” he said.

However, he added that if Trump left them with “a truck full of water, a tanker full of gas,” they would be “better off by a mile.”

Matheson added that Biden called him Sunday evening and “offered every level of support.”

“He said, there’s just nothing you can ask for that we’re not going to deliver,” Matheson said. “He assured me that, he said, nothing is too difficult. It was just a great supportive call.”

Biden and Harris have both said they plan to travel to the areas around Helene once their visits do not impact emergency response operations.

Meanwhile, state Rep. John LaHood, a Republican who represents a Valdosta-area district, said he was “good” with Trump’s visit — even if it took away resources that could otherwise be spent on emergency operations.

“I think it draws more attention to the severity of the problems here,” he said before the visit. “I understand resources will be needed, but it will be a quick journey.”

LaHood said he had not heard from Biden or Harris, or their teams, but that he wouldn’t be opposed to them visiting either.

Officials in North Carolina were also clear that they wanted national politicians to postpone future visits.

Sadie Weiner, a spokesperson for North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, said the Democratic governor spoke with both Biden and Harris over the weekend and told them not to come “immediately.”

The message “was positively received” by both Biden and Harris, Weiner said, adding that they discussed the timing of a visit at a later date.

Anderson Clayton, chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, posted again on ”

Clayton did not respond to questions from NBC News.