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Biden Calls Trump a ‘Liar’ as Administration Hits Back Over False Helene Response Attacks

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Donald Trump‘s false claims on Monday, alleging the Biden administration was intentionally ignoring Hurricane Helene victims in Republican areas, along with right-wing media and activists’ false claims there has been little to no response from the administration, are getting push back from the administration and President Biden himself.

At a campaign stop in hurricane-ravaged Valdosta, Georgia, the ex-president “repeatedly spread falsehoods Monday about the federal response to Hurricane Helene despite claiming not to be politicizing the disaster as he toured hard-hit areas in south Georgia,” the Associated Press reported.

Trump “claimed upon landing in Valdosta that President Joe Biden was ‘sleeping’ and not responding to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who he said was ‘calling the president and hasn’t been able to get him.’ He repeated the claim at an event with reporters after being told Kemp said he had spoken to Biden.”

Trump on Monday had also posted to social media, “don’t like the reports that I’m getting about the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of the State, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas. MAGA!”

RELATED: ‘Kremlin Propaganda’: MAGA Exploits Helene Disaster to Attack Biden and Harris

In a rare move, a spokesperson for FEMA made public the emergency management agency’s response to a claim by a far right-wing activist.

“This is a lie,” FEMA Director of Public Affairs and Spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg wrote on social media atop a screenshot of a claim by a far-right wing activist. “We help all people regardless of background as fast as possible before, during and after disasters. That is our mission and that is our focus.”

Robby Starbuck, a failed Republican congressional candidate who this year has targeted several large corporations over their diversity programs, on Monday wrote on social media: “I’m sure people who’ve lost loved ones, lost their homes and now see their town underwater feel really great knowing that FEMA’s #1 goal is to be woke. Everything about their terrible response makes sense now. What an embarrassment.”

Starbuck had posted, out-of-context, a page from FEMA’s internal strategic plan for its workforce.

“The first objective in each goal focuses on the emergency management workforce, ensuring they are ready to support those served,” FEMA’s website reads, which Starbuck did not include or explain.

Later on Monday in the Oval Office during a video call with North Carolina Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, a reporter said, “Donald Trump has accused both of you of ignoring the disaster —”

President Biden interjected, angrily, replying: “He is lying.”

RELATED: Trump Walks Away Muttering ‘Take a Look’ When Asked to Prove Aid Denial for Helene Victims

On his social media account, Biden wrote, “Donald Trump is a liar. I’m working with governors and local officials to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene.”

The White House is also pushing back against the false claims from the far right.

White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Emilie Simons reposted a tweet from The Bulwark and MSNBC journalist Sam Stein, and wrote “Fact Check.”

Andrew Bates, the White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary and Deputy Assistant to the President, posted video of Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp praising President Biden. That video refuted Donald Trump’s false claim President Biden had not spoken with Governor Kemp, saying, “They’re being very non-responsive.”

And White House Principal Deputy Communications Director Herbie Ziskend refuted Republican House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan’s tweet that read: “Joe Biden was at the beach.”

READ MORE: ‘Florida Is in Play’ Democrats Say as Poll Shows Multiple Close Races

 

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Trump ‘Laser-Focused’ on Affordability Says White House After Calling It a ‘Hoax’

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The White House says President Donald Trump has been “laser-focused on making America affordable” since taking office. Just one month ago, President Trump called affordability a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats.

President Trump has recently attempted to preserve his sweeping tariffs amid Supreme Court review, has engaged in foreign policy messaging involving Venezuela, Iran, and Greenland — including promoting himself as the “acting President of Venezuela” — and has responded sharply to protests involving federal officers.

The president campaigned on lowering the cost of living on “day one,” but nearly 51 weeks into his second term, inflation remains high.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that the president would travel to Detroit on Tuesday to deliver a speech about “all of the positive economic news that we continue to see as a result of his agenda.”

READ MORE: ‘Organized Gangs of Wine Moms’ Are Impeding Federal Agents Says Fox Columnist

“So tomorrow, he looks forward to traveling to the great state of Michigan, a state he won big, to not only tour a factory that produces Ford F-150s, and is going to be hiring more, and producing more trucks right here in the USA because of President Trump’s effective tariff policies,” Leavitt said.

Trump narrowly won Michigan, taking less than half of the vote and besting Vice President Kamala Harris by 1.4 percentage points.

Leavitt said that “mortgage rates that are falling under 6% for the first time in years,” “the national average of gasoline is the lowest that it’s been in five years,” and core inflation is “at its lowest level in five years.”

She suggested that “with a little bit of patience, the American people are going to continue to see that the best is yet to come,” and claimed that Trump “has a proven economic formula that works.”

Leavitt also said that Trump has a housing plan “in the works” and a healthcare plan “in the works,” and vowed that Americans will “continue to hear from the president, and he’ll continue to hit the road across the country to speak directly with the people he loves most, the American people.”

READ MORE: Trump ‘Losing Political Fight’ to Fed Chair: Analyst

 

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Trump DOJ Fires Attorney Who Refused to Prosecute James Comey

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The Trump Department of Justice has terminated a 64-year old attorney, the number-two official in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, after he refused to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey in a highly-controversial case.

MS NOW on Monday reported that Robert McBride, a senior DOJ prosecutor and former Navy lawyer, “was brought into the prominent satellite office of the Justice Department to serve as first assistant to U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan and took a more prominent role as her status was in question and after a judge ruled in late November that she was not legally appointed to run the office.”

McBride reportedly had held private meetings with judges, MS NOW reported, calling it a move that was “viewed as undermining the Administration.”

He had declined to prosecute Comey, sources said, reportedly telling top Justice Department officials that it would be difficult to do that and also run the office.

MS NOW’s Carol Leonnig added that McBride was also suspected of “gunning for” the top job.

The New York Times reported that there was a “disagreement about whether he would take charge of the Trump administration’s effort to re-indict James B. Comey,” and called McBride’s firing “the latest development in the fallout in the Justice Department over President Trump’s effort to punish Mr. Comey, the former F.B.I. director and his longtime nemesis, whom the president blames for past investigations of his conduct.”

The Times added that meeting with judges is considered “commonplace.”

 

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‘Screwed’: Trump Warns Supreme Court on Tariffs

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With many Americans awaiting a Supreme Court decision on the sweeping Trump tariffs and some experts believing the Court will rule on them any day nowpossibly as soon as Wednesday — the president is once again sending a clear warning to the justices: allow the tariffs or America is “screwed.”

During the November oral arguments, liberal and conservative justices appeared skeptical of the administration’s claim it has the power to impose global tariffs by declaring a national emergency.

President Trump has repeatedly said the tariffs are necessary for national security, and said that if the court does not allow them the U.S. would be in no position to give refunds of billions of dollars. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent late last week said refunds “won’t be a problem.”

Trump on Monday appeared to disagree.

READ MORE: ‘Organized Gangs of Wine Moms’ Are Impeding Federal Agents Says Fox Columnist

“The actual numbers that we would have to pay back if, for any reason, the Supreme Court were to rule against the United States of America on Tariffs, would be many Hundreds of Billions of Dollars,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday afternoon. It is possible the Court could rescind the Trump tariffs and not require refunds.

The president then added that “the amount of ‘payback’ that Countries and Companies would require for the Investments they are making on building Plants, Factories, and Equipment, for the purpose of being able to avoid the payment of Tariffs. When these Investments are added, we are talking about Trillions of Dollars!”

He claimed any negative ruling would create “a complete mess,” and make it “almost impossible for our Country to pay.”

Despite his Treasury Secretary’s remarks, Trump added, “Anybody who says that it can be quickly and easily done would be making a false, inaccurate, or totally misunderstood answer to this very large and complex question.”

“It may not be possible but, if it were, it would be Dollars that would be so large that it would take many years to figure out what number we are talking about and even, who, when, and where, to pay,” he claimed.

And he warned point-blank, “if the Supreme Court rules against the United States of America on this National Security bonanza, WE’RE SCREWED!”

READ MORE: Trump ‘Losing Political Fight’ to Fed Chair: Analyst

 

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