White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday defended President Biden’s failure to answer questions about the wildfires on Maui that have killed at least 96 people.
Biden was in Rehoboth Beach, Del., over the weekend and was asked during a bike ride on Sunday morning whether he would go to Maui to assess the devastation. He replied, “We’re looking at it.” After a visit to the beach later that day, Biden was asked about the rising death toll on the island and replied, “No comment.”
During a press briefing on Monday, CNN’s Kayla Tausche asked Jean-Pierre whether Biden should be seen working the phone rather than spending time on the beach during the deadly crisis.
“You all have gotten [White House press] pool reports on who the president has connected with,” Jean-Pierre said, pointing to reports that indicate Biden has interacted with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The president has been in touch with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and Hawaii Senators Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz, Jean-Pierre said.
“The [FEMA] administrator has been there for two whole days, two whole days on the ground by the president’s request to make sure that the government has what they have, the local government has what they have, the people of Maui have what they have,” she added. “When you talk about a dozen agencies on the ground, helping and assisting . . . hundreds of FEMA personnel. That’s what — that’s what matters.”
Tausche pressed again, asking Jean-Pierre to respond to critics who say the president should not have been vacationing during the wildfire.
The press secretary said Biden is “deeply concerned” about the situation and has mobilized a whole-of-government response that involves sending 300 FEMA personnel to the site of the fires, as well as 50,000 meals and thousands of cots and blankets.
“You could expect to hear from the president on this issue, clearly it is something that is deeply concerning to him,” she said. “You’ll hear from the president on this . . . certainly, he’s the president.”
FEMA’s Deanne Criswell, who joined the briefing virtually from Hawaii on Monday, responded to questions about Biden visiting Maui by saying, “Right now, we want to make sure that [federal government responders] have all of the resources and the space that they need and not disrupt operations.”
“At this point, we just want to make sure that we are working to help this community identify everybody that’s missing, and we need to stay focused on that right now,” Criswell added.
The wildfires are already the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century, and the death toll may rise as search and rescue missions continue.