From the pulpit, Harris calls out Trump for hurricane misinformation. Biden surveys Florida's damage
World
President Joe Biden visited Florida for the second time this month to survey storm damage.
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Kamala Harris used an appearance Sunday before a largely Black church audience in battleground North Carolina to call out Donald Trump for spreading misinformation about the government’s hurricane response.
President Joe Biden visited Florida for the second time this month to survey storm damage.
Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, did not speak Trump’s name, but he is most prominent among those promoting false claims about the Biden administration’s response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene. Florida was in the path of both storms, with Helene also hitting North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, while Milton headed for the open Atlantic.
The vice president spoke at the Koinonia Christian Center about the “heroes” all around who are helping residents without regard to political affiliation.
“Yet, church, there are some who are not acting in the spirit of community, and I am speaking of these who have been literally not telling the truth, lying about people who are working hard to help the folks in need, spreading disinformation when the truth and facts are required,” Harris said.
“The problem with this, beyond the obvious, is it’s making it harder, then, to get people life-saving information if they’re led to believe they cannot trust,” she said. “And that’s the pain of it all, which is the idea that those who are in need have somehow been convinced that the forces are working against them in a way that they would not seek aid.”
Harris said they are trying “to gain some advantage for themselves, to play politics with other people’s heart break, and it is unconscionable,” she said. “Now is not a time to incite fear. It is not right to make people feel alone.”
“That is not what leaders, as we know, do in crisis,” she said.
