Democratic President Joe Biden has been charged by Texas leadership officials with “turning Hurricane Beryl into a political issue.”
Biden was attacked by the office of Republican Governor Greg Abbott for allegedly telling “a complete lie” when he claimed that the White House could not “track down the governor” to talk about a storm response. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called the assertion “the hurricane hoax by Biden.”
Early on Monday, Beryl touched down on the coast of Texas. As of right now, the storm is categorized as a weaker tropical depression. When it touched down in Texas, millions of people lost power and severe flooding resulted.
As of Wednesday morning, PowerOutage.us reported that about 1.7 million people in the state—mostly in the southeast—still lacked electricity.
On Tuesday, Biden stated to the left-leaning Houston Chronicle that the White House’s inability to “track down” state leaders was the reason his administration had not been able to promptly send emergency aid to Texas after the storm made landfall. Biden stated that in an attempt to get a formal request for a major disaster declaration, his administration had been attempting to communicate with the governor.
“I’ve been trying to track down the governor to see — I don’t have any authority to do that without a specific request from the governor,” Biden alleged.
The Democrat president’s proposal was first published by The Chronicle, which supported Biden earlier this year, without state leaders’ input. Additionally, a line that was in its report has since been deleted.
A White House spokesperson allegedly “said officials tried to reach Abbott and Patrick multiple times,” presumably without success, according to the original report. Officials from Lone Star State have denounced Biden’s proposal and the Chronicle’s article as untrue.
On Tuesday, Patrick and Governor Abbott retaliated, claiming that Biden was either lying or experiencing one of his well-known mental breakdowns.
I am disappointed that President Biden is turning Hurricane Beryl into a political issue. We had a cordial call today that ended up with him granting my request for a major disaster declaration. But that’s not good enough for him. He is falsely accusing me that I was not…
— Dan Patrick (@DanPatrick) July 9, 2024
Abbott left for Asia on Friday with the goal of developing and bolstering business ties with South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Lt. Gov. Patrick has been representing the people of Texas as their acting governor until Abbott’s return on Saturday.
Patrick declared a state of disaster on July 5, a few days before the storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane. This action approved the use of all state resources to “cope with this disaster.”
On Tuesday, the governor’s office verified that Patrick had taken it a step further and had communicated with Biden.
Patrik asked for a federal disaster declaration through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during the conversation with Biden. FEMA approved the request for assistance.
Patrick said:
“This is a load of malarkey, and he’s shoveling it!” On Wednesday morning, Patrick further called out “Biden’s lie.”
𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐚𝐱
Last night, the @HoustonChron reporter, who wrote the story with Biden’s lie, that he couldn’t find me or Gov. Abbott, asked for the state call log of my conversation with the president. We sent them the log.
The log showed only a 3… https://t.co/NZP76CrOE2
— Dan Patrick (@DanPatrick) July 10, 2024
