South
Political storm: On Trump 'onslaught of lies,' Biden urges former president to 'get a life man'
There’s no let up in the war of words between President Biden and former President Trump over the federal government’s response to back-to-back devastating hurricanes that slammed into the southeast.
After Trump continued to charge that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been slow and ineffective in steering the government’s storm efforts, the president once again fired back.
Biden told reporters on Thursday that Trump needed to “get a life man, help these people.”
And he argued that “the public will hold him [Trump] accountable” for making false claims regarding the capabilities of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to assist storm victims.
BACK-TO-BACK HURRICANES ROCK PRESIDENTIAL RACE
President Joe Biden speaks and gives an update on the impact and the ongoing response to Hurricane Milton, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
But the former president’s son, Eric Trump, posted on X on Wednesday that the family has opened up one of its Florida hotels to house over 200 linemen who are helping in the storm’s aftermath.
Trump has also launched a GoFundMe campaign for victims of Hurricane Helene in Georgia, which has raised more than $7 million so far.
The president spoke as millions in Florida remained without power after Hurricane Milton tore a path of destruction across the central and northern parts of the state late Wednesday into Thursday.
Meanwhile, cleanup and recovery efforts continue across the southeast, which was hit hard by Helene nearly two weeks ago.
With less than four weeks to go until Election Day in November, Harris and Trump are locked in a narrow margin-of-error showdown in the race to succeed Biden in the White House, and with two of the hardest-hit states from Helene — North Carolina and Georgia — among the seven key battlegrounds that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 election, the politics of federal disaster relief are again front and center on the campaign trail.
CLICK HERE FOR UP-TO-DATE FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE STORMS
“Vice President Harris and I have been in constant contact with the state and local officials. We’re offering everything they need,” Biden emphasized on Thursday.
Among those the president spoke with was Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.
While DeSantis and Harris have traded verbal fire this week over whether he ignored hurricane-related calls from her, the governor and Biden have worked together on storm response and relief efforts.
“I spoke with the president this morning,” DeSantis said during one of his numerous briefings on Thursday. “He said he wants to be helpful. And so if we have a request, he said, send them his way, and he wants to help us get the job done. So I appreciate being able to collaborate across the federal, state and local governments and work together to put the people first.”
Despite those comments and others from DeSantis as well as other leading Republican officeholders in the storm-struck southeast, Trump has continuously slammed Biden and Harris.
DESANTIS AND HARRIS TRADE FIRE OVER HURRICANE CALL
“THE WORST RESPONSE TO A STORM OR HURRICANE DISASTER IN U.S. HISTORY,” Trump claimed in a social media post on Tuesday.
“The worst hurricane response since Katrina,” the former president charged on Wednesday as he pointed to the much-maligned initial federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which was heavily criticized for being slow and ineffective.
Trump, speaking at a campaign rally in battleground Pennsylvania, lobbed another political bomb at Harris, arguing that “She just led the worst rescue operation in history in North Carolina…the worst ever, they say.”
And the former president once again made false claims that FEMA diverted money intended for disaster relief and spent it on undocumented migrants in the U.S. as he turned up the volume on his inflammatory rhetoric over the combustible issue of illegal immigration.
HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS WEATHER UPDATES ON HURRICANE MILTON
“You know where they gave the money to: illegal immigrants coming,” Trump said as the crowd of MAGA supporters loudly booed.
Hours later, Biden pushed back, accusing the Republican presidential nominee of leading an “onslaught of lies.”
Biden charged that the rhetoric from Trump and other Republicans was “beyond ridiculous” and that “it’s got to stop.”
But on Thursday at a campaign event in Michigan, Trump kept up the attacks. He praised southern Republican governors for doing a “fantastic job” reacting to the storms and argued that “the federal government, on the other hand, has not done what you’re supposed to be doing, in particular, with respect to North Carolina. They’ve let those people suffer unjustly, unjustly.”
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris greets people who were impacted by Hurricane Helene in Augusta, Ga., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, as Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson watches at right. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Harris, in a Wednesday interview with the Weather Channel, also chided Trump.
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“This is not a time for us to just point fingers at each other as Americans,” the vice president said. “Anybody who considers themselves to be a leader should really be in the business right now of giving people a sense of confidence that we’re all working together and that we have the resources and the ability to work together on their behalf.”
Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt, responding to the criticism, said in a statement to Fox News on Thursday, “is this the same Joe Biden who President Trump knocked out of the race with the most dominant debate performance in history? Maybe he should keep quiet and go back to the beach. President Trump has a great life and it entails working hard every day to save this country from the mess Biden and Kamala got us into.”
Fox News’ Kirill Clark and Matteo Cina contributed to this report
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The VA of Augusta held a hiring fair Saturday to recruit health care workers as part of efforts to improve veteran care.
Leaders said staffing has improved over the last two years, with the vacancy rate now down to 12%.
The hiring fair comes as medical students are graduating and the VA of Augusta works to rebuild trust and its workforce.
“So we want to afford them an opportunity to join our team, you know, as they enhance or start their new, embark on their new careers,” said James Doelling, interim executive director at VA Augusta Healthcare System. “But we’re also looking for seasoned people, somebody that’s looking for a change. And to me, be part of the most noble mission there is, caring for our nation’s heroes. Those people that have served us, it’s time for them to be served and get the best care anywhere.”
The Augusta VA has a four-star rating from Medicare.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
Washington, D.C
National Moral Monday: Prophetic Witness Outside the White House | Repairers of the Breach
Join us Monday, May 18, in Washington, DC and states across the nation for a Moral Monday Peace and Nonviolence Rally outside the White House.
Repairers of the Breach is organizing clergy, impacted people, faith leaders, advocates, and people of moral conscience to gather in prophetic public witness against war, systemic racism, militarism, poverty, voter suppression, environmental injustice, attacks on immigrants and LGBTQ people, and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism.
This Moral Monday action comes one day after the White House’s planned “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise, & Thanksgiving” gathering. During Monday’s action, nationally recognized clergy and moral leaders will publicly challenge the distorted theology being used to justify war, attacks on democracy, and policy violence against poor and vulnerable people.
Grounded in the prophetic traditions of justice, truth-telling, nonviolence, and solidarity with the poor, clergy leaders will preach publicly in the streets near the White House before hundreds gathered in person and thousands more joining online across more than 20 livestream and social media platforms.
Bishop William J. Barber II, President & Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, will lead the gathering alongside nationally recognized bishops, rabbis, pastors, imams, faith organizers, impacted people, and moral advocates from across the country.
We gather because our nation continues to spend billions on war while communities struggle for healthcare, housing, education, living wages, environmental protection, and voting rights. We believe faith must never be used to sanctify destruction, injustice, or extremism.
Join us for public prayer, testimony, preaching, songs, and disciplined nonviolent moral witness.
The Texas Longhorns have continued to take care of business as they attempt to defend their national championship, beginning the NCAA Tournament in commanding fashion.
The Longhorns hit the field for the first game of the Austin Regional on Friday and rolled, taking down Wagner 9-1. And now Texas is into the regional final after a decisive victory on Saturday afternoon.
With a ticket on the line to the regional final the Longhorns would face off against the No. 8-seeded Wisconsin Badgers. And the Longhorns would make quick work of the matchup winning with another run rule game taking down the Badgers 9-0 in six innings.
Texas Gets Off to Quick Start and Doesn’t Look Back
While the Longhorns got through their first game on Friday it was without a bit of struggle having a slow start to begin the ballgame. However, Texas would not have any time struggling to settle into the game against Wisconsin dominating from the first inning.
Texas would get out to an early lead from the jump scoring in the first inning and would not slow down for the rest of the afternoon. The Longhorns would start the game with a three run first inning with junior Viviana Martinez batting in her third run of the Austin Regional.
Getting her bat hot again would be senior Reese Atwood who broke out of a slump of being without a home run for the last seven games. Atwood would break out of the cold streak with a two run blast giving Texas a 3-0 lead they would not look back from.
“It felt good to finally have one leave the yard,” Atwood said. “My confidence comes from my preparation, not my performance or my batting average, so just having confidence that I’m working as hard as I can.”
The Longhorns would score runs in the first three innings of the ballgame putting the contest out of reach before it really had a chance to start. Texas would lead 7-0 from the third inning and would threaten the run rule for the rest of the game.
And the run rule would come into effect in the sixth inning courtesy of a two run home run from junior Kayden Henry. The junior would homer to left field as she ended the game 3-4 from the plate and four RBI.
Just like the Longhorns dominated from inside the batters box they did the same from the circle. Getting her first action of the Austin Regional junior Teagan Kavan would toss five shutout innings allowing just a single hit and struck out eight batters.
The Longhorns now are a game away from hosting a Super Regional on their home field at Red and Charline McCombs Field. While the opponent for Texas in the regional final is still to be determined the game will be on Sunday May 17 at 12:00 p.m. CT.
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