The enormous devastation of Hurricane Helene becomes a political flashpoint

The enormous scope and scale of Hurricane Helene’s devastation in two key battleground states that could determine the election’s outcome, Georgia and North Carolina, have made the storm an instant campaign issue.

The enormous scope and scale of Hurricane Helene’s devastation in two key battleground states that could determine the election’s outcome, Georgia and North Carolina, have made the storm an instant campaign issue. The Biden-Harris administration is dealing with what is expected to be a massive – and lengthy – federal response, while former President Donald Trump is also seeking to gain a political advantage, jabbing at the administration by falsely claiming that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp couldn’t reach President Joe Biden. It amounted to a remarkable political flashpoint in the Oval Office Monday as Biden sharply rebutted Trump’s earlier assertion, underscoring both men’s recognition of the high stakes. “The governor’s doing a very good job. He’s having a hard time getting the president on the phone, I guess they’re not being responsive,” Trump had said of Kemp during a trip to Valdosta, Georgia, earlier in the day. But Kemp and Biden spoke Sunday, with the GOP governor saying in a news conference that Biden “offered that if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly, which – I appreciate that.” Biden slammed Trump’s unsubstantiated assertion during a briefing in the Oval Office Monday, telling reporters, “He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying.”