Former President Trump and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp They will be seen together Friday for the first time in four years, when they receive a briefing on recovery and relief efforts a week after Hurricane Helene devastated the southeastern United States.
The former president and popular two-term conservative Georgia governor is to be briefed on storm damage and “make comments to the press” as he joins the team during a visit to Evans, a city in the northeastern part of the state .
This event is not being described as a ban on the campaign.
for trumpThis is his second trip to Georgia this week, following Monday’s visit to Valdosta. States including North and South Carolina and Tennessee took a direct hit from the powerful storm. The death toll from Hurricane Helene now exceeds 220, with hundreds of people still missing, more than 800,000 people in seven states still without power or running water, and damage estimated at billions.
Trump’s claim, Biden, Harris and Storm’s reaction inexcusable
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in downtown Valdosta, Ga., hit by Hurricane Helene. Chase speaks outside the Whyte furniture store. (AP Photo/Ivan Vucci) (AP Photo/Ivan Vucci)
Trump is caught in a margin-of-error presidential race Vice President Kamala Harris, And Georgia and North Carolina are key battleground states, with Trump repeatedly criticizing President Biden and Harris over the handing over of the federal response to the storm.
“At the federal level, this is going down as the worst and most mismanaged ‘hurricane’ ever,” Trump claimed in a social media post on Thursday.
For the latest Fox News reporting after Hurricane Helen go here
and harris stopped in Georgia Wednesday for a storm briefing and to meet with local officials and victims of the storm, as he canceled a campaign event in Pennsylvania, another key election state.
The vice president will travel to North Carolina on Saturday to survey the damage and learn about federal, state and local efforts.
When Trump visited Valdosta on Monday, he was not accompanied by Kemp, who was surveying storm damage in other parts of Georgia.
For two years after the 2020 election defeat President Biden, Including a narrow defeat in Georgia, Trump attacked Kemp for failing to overturn the election results in his state.
Trump urged, and then endorsed, a 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary challenge against Kemp by former Senator David Perdue.
The former president toned down his criticism of the governor after Kemp crushed Perdue to easily win the nomination for re-election.
Kemp says there’s no way for Trump to reach 270 without Georgia
But in August, Trump delivered a 10-minute tirade against Kemp at a rally just blocks from the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. He blamed the governor not only for failing to overturn the 2020 vote count, but also for not stopping a county prosecutor from indicting the former president for efforts to overturn the results.
Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally held in Atlanta, Georgia on August 3, 2024. Reuters/Megan Warner
“He’s a bad man. He’s a treacherous man. And he’s a very mediocre governor,” Trump said. “Little Brian. Little Brian Kemp. Bad guy.”
But just weeks later, as a leading face for Trump, the former president praised Kemp in a social media post for “all your help and support in Georgia, where a victory is so important to the success of our party.” And, most importantly, our country.”
“I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help make America great again!” the Republican presidential candidate added.
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Trump’s change of heart came amid a wide margin in the presidential race in Georgia.
The Peach State is one of seven key battleground states whose razor-thin margins clinched Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and are likely to determine whether Harris or Trump ends up in the White House.
Republican strategists agree that to recapture Georgia, Trump will need help from Kemp’s well-run and funded political machine to turn out GOP voters.
In this Nov. 4, 2018 file photo, then-Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp, left, walks with then-President Donald Trump as Trump arrives for a rally in Macon, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File) (AP)
Kemp stressed in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital in August that “there’s no way for former president trump To win or any Republican. , , To reach 270 (electoral votes) without Georgia.”
The governor said his state “should be one that we can win, if we have all the mechanics we need. And I’m working hard to provide that in a number of ways and help turn out Republican votes.” Am.”
“It is my belief that we cannot afford four more years of (President) Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or Kamala Harris and (Minnesota Governor) Tim Walz, who I think is probably worse than Biden and Harris,” Kemp said. Will be.”
Kemp also told Fox News at the time that Trump’s criticism in early August was “a little distraction that’s in the past” and stressed that Republicans “need to keep focusing on the future… .We need to tell people why they should vote” For us, what are we going to do to make things better than they are right now and there are a lot of issues that I think you Can compare Harris and his record.
