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Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he would travel to Hawaii, as the US president sought to quell mounting criticism of his response to deadly wildfires that have ravaged the state over the past week.
“My wife Jill and I are going to travel to Hawaii as soon as we can,” Biden said in a speech in Wisconsin. “I don’t want to get in the way. I’ve been to too many disaster areas. But I want to go make sure they got everything they need.”
The president’s comments follow days of criticism from political opponents over his response to the disaster, in which the death toll has reached almost 100 people with many more fatalities expected.
Biden, who has been on vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, in recent days, said he had “no comment” on the fires when pressed by reporters on Sunday. During a bike ride earlier he responded “we’re looking at it” to shouted questions about whether he would visit the state.
The fires, which broke out last Tuesday and quickly engulfed the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui, have become the deadliest natural disaster to hit the state — and the most destructive fire in the US for more than a century.
“It is a disgraceful thing that Joe Biden refuses to help or comment on the tragedy in Maui,” said Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, on his Truth Social website on Monday. The former president sought to draw parallels with the February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, when the White House was also criticised for the speed of its response.
White House officials have been forced to defend Biden. Speaking on Tuesday from Air Force One, Biden’s deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton said Biden had been “on it from the beginning” and had first addressed the wildfires last Thursday.
The death toll reached 99 on Monday and is expected to mount as search crews with cadaver dogs scour the aftermath of the blaze. Governor Josh Green said on Monday that 1,300 people were still missing and he expected the number of fatalities to rise by 10 to 20 a day for the next 10 days.
Doug Heye, a veteran Republican strategist and longtime senior aide to Republicans on Capitol Hill, said Biden’s response “runs against his consoler-in-chief image built over two decades”.
“Trump handled disasters badly,” said Heye. “When there was a disaster, Trump was playing golf. But now Biden is at the beach and can’t and won’t talk about it.”
Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic policy analyst in Boston at Dewey Square Group, said it was “appropriate” for Biden to refuse to address the wildfires while in a casual setting at the beach “as a mark of respect” and criticised Republicans for politicising the disaster.
“What is inflammatory and irresponsible is once again Republicans have chosen to pick a fight and make a tragedy a political football, and that is shameful.”
On Tuesday, the White House said that more than 300 FEMA employees were on the ground, and that 50,000 meals, 75,000 litres of water, 5,000 cots and 10,000 blankets had been provided. The coastguard and the navy were supporting rescue and firefighting efforts, the White House said.
