From the pulpit, Harris calls out Trump for hurricane misinformation. Biden surveys Florida's 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.

Trump made a series of false claims after Helene struck in late September, including saying that Washington was intentionally withholding aid from Republicans in need across the Southeast. The former president falsely claimed the Federal Emergency Management Agency had run out of money to help them because it was spent on programs to help immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

He pressed that argument on Fox News' “Sunday Morning Futures,” saying the White House response was “absolutely terrible” and repeating the claim about FEMA's dollars. “It came out from there and everybody knew it,” Trump said in an interview that was taped Thursday and broadcast Sunday.

Before Harris spoke in church, Biden was surveying hurricane damage on a helicopter flight between Tampa and St. Pete Beach on the Gulf Coast. From the air, he saw the torn-up roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. On the ground, the president saw waterlogged household furnishings piled up outside flooded homes. Some houses had collapsed.

The president said he was thankful that Milton was not as bad as officials had anticipated, but that it still was a “cataclysmic” event for many people, including those who lost irreplaceable personal items. He also praised the first responders, some of whom had come from Canada.

"It's in moments like this we come together to take care of each other, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans," Biden said after he was briefed by federal, state and local officials, and met some residents and responders. “We are one United States, one United States.”

Harris opened her second day in North Carolina by speaking at the Christian center in Greenville, part of her campaign's “Souls to the Polls” effort to help turn out Black churchgoers before the Nov. 5 election.

The vice president later spoke to roughly 7,000 supporters at a Sunday afternoon rally at East Carolina University's arena, suggesting that Trump's team has stopped him from releasing medical records or debating her again because they might be “afraid that people will see that he is too weak and unstable.”

The North Carolina appearances mark the start of a week that will find Harris working to shore up support among Black voters, a key constituency for the Democratic Party. She is counting on Black turnout in competitive states such as North Carolina to help her defeat Trump, who has focused on energizing men of all races and has tried to make inroads with Black men in particular.

On Tuesday, she will appear in Detroit for a live conversation with Charlamagne tha God, a prominent Black media personality.

Black registered voters have overwhelmingly favorable views of Harris and negative views of Trump despite his attempts to appeal to nonwhite voters, according to a recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. But the poll also shows that many Black voters aren’t sure whether Harris would improve the country overall or better their own lives.

In Florida, which Biden had visited the Big Bend region on Oct. 3 after Helene struck, the president announced $612 million for six Department of Energy projects in hurricane-affected areas to bolster the region’s electric grid. The money includes $47 million for Gainesville Regional Utilities and $47 million for Switched Source to partner with Florida Power and Light.

With a little more than three weeks before the election, the hurricanes have added another dimension to the closely contested presidential race.

Trump has said the Biden administration’s storm response was lacking, particularly in western North Carolina after Helene. Biden and Harris have hammered Trump for promoting falsehoods about the federal response.

Biden said Trump was “not singularly" to blame for the spread of misinformation but that he has the "biggest mouth.”

“They blame me for everything. It's OK,” Trump told Fox.

Biden has pressed for Congress to act quickly to make sure the Small Business Administration and FEMA have the money they need to get through hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. He said Friday that Milton alone had caused an estimated $50 billion in damages.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department oversees FEMA, said the hurricane season is far from over and there are other natural disasters for which the agency must ready.

“We don’t know what’s coming tomorrow, whether it’s another hurricane, a tornado, a fire, an earthquake. We have to be ready. And it is not good government to be dependent on a day-to-day existence as opposed to appropriate planning,” Mayorkas said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said there was plenty of time and that lawmakers would address the funding issue when Congress comes back into session after the Nov. 5 election.

“We’ll provide the additional resources,” Johnson told CBS.

Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening. At least 10 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of residents remain without power. Officials say the toll could have been worse if not for widespread evacuations. ee.

Madhani reported from St. Pete Beach, Florida, and Superville from Washington.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at East Carolina University, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at East Carolina University, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)

Attendees hold up signs before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at a campaign rally at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Attendees hold up signs before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign event at East Carolina University, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)

Attendees are pictured in the audience before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at a campaign rally at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Attendees dance before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at a campaign rally at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, prays alongside bishop Rosie O'neal during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Attendees cheer before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign event at East Carolina University, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, center, sings alongside former Rep. Eva Clayton, of North Carolina, left, and bishop Rosie O'neal, during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, high-fives Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., as she arrives at Pitt-Greenville Airport in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, to speak at a campaign rally. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden, second left, meets with residents and federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., during a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Milton, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Attendees sing before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden, second left, is briefed by federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., following an aerial tour of the Hurricane Milton affected areas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Attendees pray before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden speaks following a briefing by federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., during a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Milton, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, prays alongside bishop Rosie O'neal during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, center, hugs bishop Rosie O'neal, during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

A view of the area is pictured as President Joe Biden is briefed by federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., following an aerial tour of the Hurricane Milton affected areas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden, center right, is briefed by federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., following an aerial tour of the Hurricane Milton affected areas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden, second left, is briefed by federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., following an aerial tour of the Hurricane Milton affected areas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden arrives to be briefed by federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., following an aerial tour of areas affected by Hurricane Milton, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden, second left, meets with residents and federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., during a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Milton, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden speaks following a briefing by federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., during a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Milton, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden speaks following a briefing by federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., during a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Milton, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

St. Pete Beach, Fla. Mayor Adrian Petrila speaks as President Joe Biden, right, listens Biden's visit to areas affected by Hurricane Milton in St. Pete Beach, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden, second left, joined by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., left, speaks with residents and federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., during a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Milton, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden, second left, joined by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., left, speaks with residents and federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., during a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Milton, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden, second left, is briefed by federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., following an aerial tour of the Hurricane Milton affected areas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden speaks following a briefing by federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., during a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Milton, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden, right, walks during a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Milton in St. Pete Beach, Fla., following an aerial tour, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The roof of the Tropicana Field is damaged the morning after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

President Joe Biden walks to board Air Force One he departs Joint Base Andrews, Md., on his way to Tampa, Fla, to visit the Hurricane Milton affected areas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

FILE - The roof of the Tropicana Field is damaged the morning after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Oct. 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson, File)

With President Joe Biden aboard, Marine One surveys areas affected by Hurricane Milton in Florida, from Tampa to St. Petersburg, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Tampa, Fla. Mayor Jane Castor, left, speaks with President Joe Biden as he arrives at MacDill Air Force Base, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

With President Joe Biden aboard, Marine One surveys areas affected by Hurricane Milton in Florida, from Tampa to St. Petersburg, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The destroyed roof of the Tropicana Dome is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

An aerial drone view of the scene where a downtown high-rise was smashed by a fallen crane from Hurricane Milton at 490 1st Avenue South, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in St. Petersburg, Fla. The building damaged by Hurricane Milton is home to the Tampa Bay Times, a law firm, a defense contractor and more. (Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

President Joe Biden, from left, joined by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi, and on screen from left, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks about the federal government's response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she arrives at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

President Joe Biden speaks about the federal government's response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas listens, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, packs diapers Greg Hatem, owner of The Pit Authentic Barbecue, as Harris visits the restaurant to learn about their relief efforts for Hurricane Helene, in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

President Joe Biden speaks about the federal government's response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene as as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm listens, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump has made an American takeover of Greenland a focus of his second term in the White House, calling it a national security priority while repeating false claims about the strategic Arctic island.

In recent comments, he has floated using military force as an option to take control of Greenland. He has said if the U.S. does not acquire the island, which is a self-governing territory of NATO ally Denmark, then it will fall into Chinese or Russian hands.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

TRUMP, discussing the security situation in the Arctic: “We need that because if you take a look outside of Greenland right now, there are Russian destroyers, there are Chinese destroyers and, bigger, there are Russian submarines all over the place. We’re not gonna have Russia or China occupy Greenland, and that’s what they’re going to do if we don’t."

THE FACTS: Experts have repeatedly rebuffed Trump's claims of Chinese and Russian military forces lurking off Greenland's coastline. Experts say Russia instead operates in the Barents Sea, off the Scandinavian coast, and both China and Russia have a presence in the Bering Sea south of Alaska.

“That statement makes no sense in terms of facts,” said Andreas Østhagen, research director for Arctic and ocean politics at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Oslo, Norway. “There are no Russian and Chinese ships all over the place around Greenland. Russia and/or China has no capacity to occupy Greenland or to take control over Greenland.”

“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” Lars Vintner, a heating engineer told The Associated Press in Greenland's capital Nuuk. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships. Another Greenlander, Hans Nørgaard, told AP that Trump's claims are “fantasy.”

Lin Mortensgaard, an expert on the international politics of the Arctic at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said that while there are probably Russian submarines — as there are across the vast Arctic region — near Greenland, there are no surface vessels.

China has research vessels in the Central Arctic Ocean, and while the Chinese and Russian militaries have done joint exercises in the Arctic, they have taken place closer to Alaska, she said.

Asked about Trump’s claim that there are multiple Chinese and Russian ships and submarines around the island, Greenland business minister Naaja Nathanielsen responded Tuesday: "Not that we are aware of."

While Russia and China have an interest in the Arctic, “we don’t detect an actual threat," she said.

“America is still recognized as quite a big superpower,” Nathanielsen added, “and I don’t see any appetite from Russia or China to destabilize this.”

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TRUMP, discussing Denmark's defenses in Greenland: "You know what their defense is? Two dog sleds."

THE FACTS: The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, an elite Danish naval unit that conducts long-range reconnaissance and enforces Danish sovereignty in the Arctic wilderness, is stationed in Greenland.

It's a key part of the Danish military infrastructure in the inhospitable Arctic terrain, experts say.

“Remember, transportation of the area is either by sea or by air. There are no highways,” said Steven Lamy, an international relations professor and Arctic security expert at the University of Southern California. “You can't basically get in a car or a Bradley vehicle or tank or anything and go up there. So they have dog sleds.”

In addition to these special elite forces, Denmark has several surface patrol ships and surveillance aircraft and the kingdom is moving to further strengthen its military presence around Greenland and in the wider North Atlantic. Last year, the government announced a roughly 14.6 billion-kroner ($2.3 billion) agreement with parties including the governments of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, another self-governing territory of Denmark, to “improve capabilities for surveillance and maintaining sovereignty in the region.”

The plan includes three new Arctic naval vessels, two additional long-range surveillance drones and satellite capacity.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command is headquartered in Nuuk, the capital, and tasked with the “surveillance, assertion of sovereignty and military defense of Greenland and the Faroe Islands,” according to its website. It has smaller satellite stations across the island. Greenland also guards part of what is known as the GIUK (Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom) Gap, where NATO monitors Russian naval movements in the North Atlantic.

The U.S. Department of Defense also operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, which was built after the U.S. and Denmark signed the Defense of Greenland Treaty in 1951. It supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

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TRUMP, discussing why Greenland is part of the Danish kingdom: “The fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean that they own the land. I’m sure we had lots of boats go there also.”

THE FACTS: The first humans arrived in northern Greenland circa 2,500 B.C., traveling from what is now Canada after the narrow strait separating the island from North America froze over. The Norse explorer Erik the Red arrived circa A.D. 985 with a fleet of Viking ships, according to the medieval Icelandic sagas.

In 1721, Lutheran missionary Hans Egede arrived in Greenland and ultimately began efforts to convert the Indigenous people to Christianity, marking the start of Denmark’s modern colonization of Greenland, which formally became a Danish colony in 1814. The U.S. government recognized Denmark’s right to the whole of Greenland more than a century later.

“It’s the same logic about the U.S. and sovereignty, right? You have a couple of boats arriving from Europe and now you own the United States of America,” said Østhagen, of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. “The Indigenous population was there before you guys."

In 2009, Greenland became a self-governing country within the Danish kingdom. The island has a right to independence when requested by local voters.

International law has developed over the centuries, pivoting from land-grabbing colonial powers to modern-day treaties honoring borders largely developed after World War II.

Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher and Arctic security expert at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said postwar it has remained important, especially to the U.S., for countries to refrain from exerting power over other territories.

“We shouldn’t just grab and go to war,” he said. “Rather, it should be peoples who have their self-determination.”

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Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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Dazio reported from Berlin and Zhang reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

FILE - Coloured houses covered by snow are seen from the sea in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

FILE - Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance tour the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP, File)

Pituffik Space Base is pictured as Vice President JD Vance visits, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Greenland. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

Houses covered by snow are seen on the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)