Washington
CNN
—

The enormity and scope of Hurricane Helene’s devastation in two key battleground states that could decide the outcome of the election, Georgia and North Carolina, have made the storm an immediate 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 trying to gain political advantage by attacking the government by falsely claiming the Georgia Governor Brian Kemp may not reach out to President Joe Biden.

There was a notable political flashpoint in the Oval Office on Monday when Biden sharply refuted Trump’s earlier assertion, underscoring that both men recognize that much is at stake.

“The governor is doing a very good job. He’s having a hard time getting the president on the phone, I guess they’re not responding,” Trump said of Kemp earlier in the day during a trip to Valdosta, Georgia.

But Kemp and Biden spoke Sunday, with the GOP governor saying in a news conference that Biden “offered to just call him directly if we need any other things, which I really appreciate.”

Biden criticized Trump’s baseless claim during an Oval Office briefing on Monday, telling reporters: “He’s lying, and the governor told him he’s lying.”

He added: “I don’t care what he says about me – I care what he says to people in need.” He implies that we are not doing everything that is possible. We are. This is us.”

Trump also told reporters that he spoke with Elon Musk to gain access to Starlink communications in North Carolina. However, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had already announced that 40 Starlink satellite systems were in place and another 140 were in the pipeline. Musk’s Starlink is a government contractor and Musk is a loyal Trump supporter. The former president has suggested that Musk, who has a history of anti-Semitic and inflammatory rhetoric, would lead a federal government efficiency commission if elected.

Biden and Harris, meanwhile, have tried to mobilize a strong effort publicly and behind the scenes — even though the reality of responding to severe weather at the federal level is often lengthy in terms of needed help.

About 3,600 federal employees are currently deployed, and Biden has approved major disaster declarations for Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. State and local officials from both parties have so far praised the Biden administration’s response.

Both the president and vice president spoke on the phone over the weekend, and Harris balanced those briefings and calls with two fundraisers in California that raised $55 million and a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday. She cut short the trip to Nevada and returned to Washington on Monday for a briefing at FEMA headquarters. She plans to visit affected areas whenever possible.

Biden will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday, where he will receive a briefing at the state’s emergency operations center in Raleigh before an aerial tour of the devastation in the western part of the state, where roads are unsuitable for a presidential motorcade.

Biden said his team is in “constant contact” with state and local officials.

“I have directed my team to provide all available resources to your communities as quickly as possible to rescue, recover and begin rebuilding,” he said, citing efforts by FEMA, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Defense.

Biden continued: “I am here to say to every single survivor in these affected areas that we will be with you for as long as it takes.”

As a former president, Trump is keenly aware of how Biden and Harris will be judged based on the federal government’s response to the hurricane.

Over the weekend, Trump held campaign events in Michigan and Wisconsin, but criticized both Biden and Harris for not being at the White House while those in the storm’s path braced for its impact – Harris was fundraising on the West Coast , Biden at his beach house in Delaware.

On Monday, Trump was the first of the three to travel to the storm area. In Valdosta, he said, he came with truckloads of supplies and gasoline. However, the journey also required a significant deployment of police and rescue workers.

The former president’s campaign later launched an official Go Fund Me “as an official response for MAGA supporters to offer their financial support to their fellow Americans affected by Hurricane Helene.”

In addition to posting about the Georgia visit on social media in the last 24 hours, Trump has been promoting it a cryptocurrency and has attacked Harris and Biden for “drowning Americans in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and elsewhere in the South.”

As he continues to bring the storm to the forefront of political discussion, Trump risks reminding voters of his own response to major disasters during his time in office.

“I would say to Donald Trump and his campaign: Be really careful — they’re not usually careful — about politicizing this,” said Republican strategist Doug Heye.