Harris calls Trump 'incredibly irresponsible' for spreading misinformation about Helene response

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday called former President Donald Trump “incredibly irresponsible” for spreading falsehoods about the federal response to Hurricane Helene 's destruction, offering especially sharp words as a new storm bears down on Florida with just weeks until Election Day.

"There’s a lot of mis- and disinformation being pushed out there by the former president about what is available, particularly to the survivors of Helene,” Harris told reporters before boarding Air Force Two to fly to New York. “It’s extraordinarily irresponsible. It’s about him. It’s not about you.”

Helene has killed more than 220 people in six states, and Category 5 Hurricane Milton is on a path toward Florida's Gulf Coast.

Trump has made a series of false claims in the wake of Helene, including saying incorrectly that the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to Republican disaster victims. He also falsely claimed the Federal Emergency Management Agency had run out of money because all of it had gone to programs for immigrants in the country illegally.

Harris said “the reality is that FEMA has so many resources that are available to folks who desperately need them now, and resources that are about helping people get back on their feet and rebuild and have places to go.”

“People are entitled to these resources, and it is critically important that people apply for the help that is there to support,” the vice president added. “All those resources were created for just these types of moments, in an emergency situation, knowing that folks are entitled to have the relief that they so rightly need.”

Trump also said during a visit Valdosta, Georgia, last week that President Joe Biden was “sleeping” and not responding to calls from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Biden had, in fact, spoken with Kemp and said of Trump, “He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying.”

Harris also criticized another high-profile Republican, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, suggesting he's “playing political games” and engaging in “political gamesmanship” in Helene's aftermath.

Harris office says the vice president reached out to DeSantis after the storm. DeSantis said Monday afternoon that he “didn’t know that she had called” and “they didn’t call me.”

“It wasn’t anything anybody in my office did in saying that it was political,” DeSantis said.

But Harris, asked about DeSantis, said “people are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games at this moment in these crisis situations … is utterly irresponsible.”

“It is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first,” Harris said without naming DeSantis.

DeSantis later spoke with Biden to discuss preparations for Milton. The president, according to the White House, asked DeSantis “to call him directly if there is anything that can be done to further support the response and recovery efforts.”

Florida's governor latter responded to Harris, telling Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity that the vice president was “delusional” for criticizing him when he's been focused on the people of his state.

“She has no role in this," said DeSantis, who noted he’d been in contact with Biden and federal officials. “In fact, she’s been vice president for three and a half years. I’ve dealt with a number of storms under this administration, and she has never contributed anything to any of these efforts.”

DeSantis said Harris was “trying to blunder into this,” adding that he'd worked well with Biden and Trump during past hurricanes and the vice president is “the first one who's trying to politicize the storm and she’s doing that just because of her campaign.”

“I don’t have time for political games,” DeSantis said.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at LaGuardia Airport, Monday Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at LaGuardia Airport, Monday Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Members of Venezuela’s political opposition who have been sheltering for months in the Argentine diplomatic compound in the capital, Caracas, on Saturday detailed their deteriorating living conditions as they sought to grow a sense of urgency among the governments working to secure their safe departure from their home country.

Their comments to reporters via an online news conference came three days after Argentina’s government urged the Organization of American States to pressure Venezuela to allow the safe passage of the six members of the opposition living at the ambassador’s residence.

The harassment, according to those who spoke to reporters, includes constant surveillance by heavily armed security agents, the interruption of water and electric services, and this week’s arrest of a longtime local employee of the Argentine embassy.

“We are seeing how the process of violating our basic human rights is accelerating, and it is urgent to be able to stop this situation of control and repression against us, whether psychological or real,” said Magalli Meda, campaign manager of opposition powerhouse María Corina Machado.

Venezuela’s Minister of Interior Diosdado Cabello last week called the group’s allegations a “farce.”

The government of President Javier Milei in August transferred custody of the diplomatic compound in Caracas to Brazil after Venezuela expelled Argentina’s diplomats. The move followed a July presidential election marred by serious fraud allegations and which both President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition claim to have won.

But Maduro revoked Brazil’s authorization to guard the facility in September, even though that nation’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had attempted to help Venezuela break its political stalemate following the presidential vote.

“The Brazilian Foreign Ministry has made the contacts and the corresponding arrangements,” said Pedro Urruchurtu, who along three other men and two women has lived at the diplomatic facility since March. "We ask Brazil to have a much greater sense of urgency, in this sense it means redoubling efforts and coordination with the region and understanding that this situation can clearly get worse and therefore demands the attention of the entire region.”

Venezuela’s protracted political crisis deepened after the July 28 presidential election. The country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared him the election winner hours after polls closed. But unlike previous presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts.

Meanwhile, the opposition, led by Machado, collected tally sheets from 80% of the nation’s electronic voting machines, posted them online and said the voting records showed that the faction’s candidate, Edmundo González, had won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.

On Wednesday, more than a dozen members of the Organization of American States joined Argentina’s call on Maduro’s government to allow the safe passage of those living at the ambassador’s residence.

FILE - A police patrol car sits parked outside Argentina's embassy where some members of Venezuela's opposition are seeking asylum inside, in Caracas, Venezuela, July 31, 2024, three days after the contested presidential election. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)