Biden speaks out against fake news on hurricane response

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00:00We focus on the fake news Donald Trump has been spreading on the campaign trail over

00:09emergency response here at France 24, Vedika Pahal with this.

00:15Donald Trump isn't just ramping up his presidential campaign, he's also amplifying a series of

00:20falsehoods and misinformation about the government's hurricane response.

00:25In both Michigan and North Carolina, he incorrectly accused the White House of stealing $1 billion

00:30from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house undocumented immigrants.

00:35Some of them are murderers, some of them are drug dealers. 13,099 murderers came into our

00:42country during their three and a half and we're missing a billion dollars they gave

00:46them to the migrants that came in.

00:49Though FEMA has a different budget for shelter and support services for immigrants, its funding

00:54for disaster relief is ring-fenced. And the agency's director has squashed the lie, saying

00:59FEMA has what it needs.

01:01The last time US disaster relief funds were reallocated for immigration purposes was in

01:06fact in 2019 under Trump himself, to bolster migrant programs at the southern border.

01:12Later Trump suggested victims who lost their homes would only receive $750 in federal aid.

01:19They send hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign nations and you know what they're

01:23giving our people? $750.

01:27The $750 is designed for immediate relief for essential supplies. It's only part of

01:32a larger aid package to those devastated by the storm.

01:36The maximum amount of home repair assistance available to survivors is $42,500.

01:43His latest false claim accuses Vice President Harris of driving her campaign efforts whilst

01:48neglecting helicopters and rescue in North Carolina.

01:51Though this was quickly debunked by the state's Department of Public Safety, which says operations

01:56are ongoing with over 1,600 personnel involved.

02:00Harris for her part has slammed her opponent as incredibly irresponsible for spreading

02:04falsehoods about the federal response. There's just weeks remain till election day.

02:09With that report Donald Trump seems making it up as he goes along. US President Joe Biden

02:15he has spoken out over such fake news claims.

02:19Those who do it, do it to try to damage the administration. We can take care of ourselves.

02:27But it misleads people, it puts people in circumstances where they panic, where they're

02:32really, really, really worried. They think we're not being taken care of. And it really

02:36is, it's going to sound, I'm using an old phrase, it's un-American. It really is. People

02:42are scared to death. People know their lives are at stake. All that they've worked for,

02:48all that they own, all that they value.

02:52Joe Biden there really come across as the voice of reason. Let's bring in our correspondent

02:57Fraser Jackson to explore this a little further. Fraser, great to see you as ever near the

03:02White House as we can see. Lovely sunny day. Good to see you there in fine form. Tell us,

03:07fake news, how is the White House responding?

03:12Well the fake news over the funding has led to some tense moments between the press also

03:17and the White House. We saw a bit of a back and forth between the Fox News presenter here

03:22at the White House and Karine Jean-Pierre just on Monday. And it's something that Joe

03:28Biden himself has pushed back against. Last week when these claims first started he said

03:33Donald Trump was lying. He said it really angers him that Donald Trump does this because

03:38he said he doesn't care what he says about Joe Biden. But it is that misinformation which

03:43is impacting people on the ground which really gets his goat as it were. Well Trump also

03:48made false claims as we heard there about Joe Biden not talking to the governor of the

03:54state, a lot of them Republican governors. And Joe Biden also pushed back on that, as

03:59did, it must be noted, the governors of those states as well. The Biden administration is

04:04keen to point out that they've been coordinating the federal response to this hurricane and

04:09hurricane which is now on route to Florida and have been effectively pushing federal

04:15resources into the area even before these hurricanes hit. That includes coordinating

04:21with Republican governors like Ron DeSantis down in Florida who is somebody who's had

04:26choice words for Biden in the past but has worked with him. And this despite not going

04:32to meet Biden when Biden was on the ground in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene just

04:35one week ago. But they have now been speaking on the phone as we heard a little earlier.

04:40Take a listen to what Biden said at the end of that press meeting there.

04:44The governor of Florida has been cooperative. He said he's gotten all the need. I talked

04:51to him again yesterday and I said, no, you're doing a great job. It's all being done well.

04:58We thank you for it. And I literally gave my personal phone number to call. So I don't

05:03know. There was a rough start in some places, but every governor, every governor from Florida

05:10to North Carolina has been fully cooperative and supportive and acknowledged what this

05:15team is doing. And they're doing an incredible job. We've got a lot more to do.

05:20Just to underline what Biden says there, the White House says that Republican governors

05:25are in step with what Biden is saying. But Florida's Ron DeSantis, and this is important

05:31because Florida is about to be hit by Hurricane Milton. Hasn't been in sync with the Vice

05:35President Kamala Harris. Tell us more.

05:38Yeah, this all came after sources said on Monday that Vice President Kamala Harris had

05:44been trying to reach out to Ron DeSantis to discuss the preparations for Hurricane Milton,

05:50which is now barreling directly down upon Tampa and its 3.3 million residents. Well,

05:56first, Ron DeSantis said that he was not aware of this phone call, which led to Kamala

06:02Harris having some words for him on the tarmac as she boarded Air Force Two yesterday.

06:07She said people are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games at this

06:10moment in these crisis situations. These are the height of emergency situations.

06:15It's utterly irreconcilable and it's selfish. It's about political gamemanship, she said.

06:21Well, that's then got a reaction from Ron DeSantis late on Monday on Fox News.

06:27She was called delusional by the Florida governor and he said she has no role in this.

06:32In fact, she's been vice president for three and a half years and I've dealt with a number

06:36of storms under this administration. She has never contributed anything to these efforts.

06:41But of course, this all happening now with one eye on those November elections.

06:46Both candidates are trying to use this storm to their political advantage.

06:50We saw Donald Trump in Georgia in the aftermath of Helene and we are now going to likely be

06:55seeing Kamala Harris back on the ground in Florida once again, once this storm hits on

07:01Wednesday night, early Thursday morning, she'll likely be down there as likely will be Joe

07:06Biden now that he has cancelled his trip to Europe and Africa because of that impending storm.

07:13Rosa Jackson, thank you as always.

07:15Rosa Jackson, our correspondent there in Washington.

07:18We'll have more on the trail to November the 5th in our daily Zoom on the U.S. presidential election.

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