Hurricane management allegedly led to a partisan hoax easily dismissed by Texan leaders: “Mr. President, how you like to say, 'Come on, man!'”
No low was clearly too low for President Joe Biden and his allies as he endured one of the worst political weeks of his decades-long career. In the wake of Hurricane Beryl, which left nearly 2 million Texans without power amid dangerously high temperatures, the choice between leadership and scoring “political points” had the chief resident clearly opting for the latter .
Leading up to X Wednesday morning, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) issued a statement intended to expose a claim made by Biden in a interview with the Houston Chronicle. Although the president reported speaking with both Houston Mayor John Whitmire (D) and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo (D), whose office oversees the management of emergencies, suggested he had been unable to contact Gov. Greg Abbott (D) or Patrick to authorize an emergency declaration, “I've been trying to locate the governor to see, I have no authority to do so without a specific request of the governor”.
Patrick explained how the Chronicle had sought the call log of the conversation with the president and how, for an unknown reason, Biden had contacted Texas Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd instead of 'himself or Abbott, who was away for economic development. trip to Asia
“I spoke with the president from 11:49 to 11:52 on Chief Kidd's phone,” wrote the lieutenant governor, who claimed, “The reason they called Chief Kidd is puzzling to me, as they just gave them my phone number.@FEMA had called a TDEM employee about 10 minutes before my call with the president asking for my personal phone number.My team gave FEMA my number cell phone number and my chief of staff's phone number. However, the president still called Chief Kidd's phone 10 minutes later instead of calling… me.”
'
Last night, the @HoustonChron The reporter, who wrote the story with Biden lying that he couldn't find me or Governor Abbott, asked for the state's call log of my conversation with the president. We sent them the log.
The log only showed 3… https://t.co/NZP76CrOE2
— Dan Patrick (@DanPatrick) July 10, 2024
“I spent the entire weekend working alongside FEMA employees at the State Operations Center in Austin. They are good men and women, but they never said the president was trying to contact me,” he continued as he addressed an earlier reaction expressing how “disappointed” he was that Biden was treating the hurricane as “a political issue.”
“The governor. Abbott also did not hear from the president during Hurricane Beryl. Governor Abbott tweeted that the president has his phone number and called him as recently as Memorial Day. But he didn't call Abbott during the hurricane either,” Patrick said.
Abbott posted from his personal X account: “Biden's memory fails again. Not once did he call me during Beryl. He has my number and called me on Memorial Day after the tornadoes hit Texas. He had daily calls with state and local officials during Beryl. I spoke with the FEMA administrator while on our trade mission, but Biden never called.”
Biden's memory fails again.
Not once did he call me during Beryl.
He has my number and called me on Memorial Day after the tornadoes hit Texas.
I have had daily calls with state and local officials during Beryl.
I spoke with the FEMA administrator during our trade mission, but Biden never called.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 9, 2024
“To suggest that the president didn't find me or the governor is ridiculous. The bottom line is this: I requested a federal disaster declaration at the right time without delay and the president agreed. Unfortunately, President Biden is attacking the Governor Abbott and I, trying to score political points, for reasons that don't make sense,” Patrick concluded. “Mr. President, how you like to say, 'Come on, man!'”
Abbott's questioning of Biden's memory came amid growing concern from the president's own party that he should be sidelined, with one neurologist even claiming he was indisputable that the octogenarian suffered from a neurodegenerative disease.
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