WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is holding rallies in key Pennsylvania on Wednesday as Vice President Kamala Harris prepares for another visit to the West — even as Hurricane Milton threatens Florida and threatens to overshadow the presidential campaign.
Events are planned for Trump, the former president and current Republican candidate, in Scranton – the birthplace of President Joe Biden – and Reading, where he is expected to speak about the economy and immigration in a city that is two-thirds Hispanic.
The hurricane prompted Trump to postpone a virtual health-related event and reschedule a Univision town hall in Miami on Tuesday night.
Harris has her own Univision town hall scheduled for Thursday in Las Vegas before returning to Arizona for her second visit to both states in less than two weeks. She was scheduled to fly to Nevada later Wednesday, but first attended a White House briefing on the storm and the federal response that Biden received.
Milton is approaching, just days after Hurricane Helene killed more than 220 people in six southeastern states and left a path of destruction that federal, state and local authorities are trying to mitigate as they now prepare for the next storm.
Both Biden and Harris condemned the misinformation and disinformation surrounding the federal response to Helene, including the false claim that there is a cap on the assistance families can receive. They also denounced the false notion that funds are being illegally diverted from Republican-leaning areas and to people in the country and that federal agencies offering assistance could end up stealing property from owners. Both emphasized that Trump was responsible for a huge part of the untruths.
“I want to make something clear. “In recent weeks there has been a reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are unsettling people,” Biden said during the Milton briefing. “It undermines confidence in the incredible rescue and recovery work that has already been done” and continues to be carried out. And it’s harmful to those who need support the most.”
“What a ridiculous statement that is,” Biden said of the false rumors that funds were being illegally diverted to migrants in the country. Biden also pointed to Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s false claim that “I control the weather,” calling her comments “like something out of a cartoon.”
“It’s beyond ridiculous,” Biden said. “It has to stop.”
He also told Deanne Criswell, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, “You’re doing a hell of a job.”
Harris said that once the hurricane passes, “we’ll be there to help people rebuild.”
“This is a storm that is expected to reach historic proportions,” she said. Addressing Floridians, Harris added, “I know many of you are tough and have weathered these hurricanes before. “This one will be different.”
Harris also participated in a phone call with Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Trump’s campaign said the former president spoke with Netanyahu after Iran recently launched missile attacks on Israel.
“World leaders want to speak and meet with President Trump because they know he will soon return to the White House and restore peace around the globe,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Biden, meanwhile, has already postponed a trip to Germany and Angola planned for this week, saying: “I just don’t think I can be out of the country at this time.”
Harris spent Tuesday in New York taping interviews for ABC’s “The View,” with radio host Howard Stern and for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” During her interview on “The View” and later during her taping with Colbert, Harris failed to identify key ways in which her future administration would differ significantly from Biden’s.
“There’s nothing that comes to mind,” Harris said on “The View.”
Trump responded on his social media platform, posting that Harris said “she would have done nothing different” than Biden, whom he called “the WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.”
Harris had her own harsh words for her opponent. Responding to reports in Bob Woodward’s recent book “War” that Trump, as president in 2020, secretly sent COVID-19 test kits to Russian President Vladimir Putin when they were difficult to find in the United States, she said nonchalantly: “Do you remember what those days were like?”
“Do you remember how many people didn’t have tests and were trying to get them?” Harris asked during the taping with Colbert. “Remember how rare it was to have them?”
She said of Trump: “And this man gives Vladimir Putin COVID test kits. “Think about what that means,” before adding: “He thinks Vladimir Putin is his friend.” What about the American people? They should be your first friends.”
Trump denied the reporting. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the USA had sent test kits. whom he referred to as “testers,” however, denied that the exchange took place in secret.
“There were no secret deliveries. “The pandemic began then,” Peskov said in a statement on Wednesday. “Many countries exchanged devices. We sent ventilators. Testers came from America.”
