Texas Governor Greg Abbott disputed President Joe Biden’s claim that state leaders were unreachable for distributing emergency relief supplies after Hurricane Beryl, calling Biden’s statements “a complete lie.”
The Houston Chronicle reported that Biden said he was trying to “track down” the governor to secure the disaster declaration request needed to release federal aid. Biden told the newspaper he did not connect with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting governor while Abbott is on an official trip to Asia, until Tuesday afternoon.
A White House spokesman stated that federal officials had attempted to reach Abbott and Patrick multiple times, though Biden did not provide more details about his attempts.
“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 said.
Biden, a Democrat, is seeking re-election this year, while Abbott and Patrick are both Republicans.
Abbott’s spokesman, Andrew Mahaleris, told The Texas Newsroom that federal agencies had been working with state officials ahead of the storm and that all necessary disaster declarations were in place well in advance.
“This is a complete lie from President Biden, and frankly doesn’t make any sense,” Mahaleris said. “The President and his Administration know exactly how to get in contact with the Governor and have on numerous occasions in the past, and even most recently on Friday when FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell called and spoke with him while on a trade mission.”
By July 6, Patrick had issued state disaster declarations for 121 counties. Beryl made landfall near Matagorda as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday morning.
Abbott stated that Patrick spoke with Biden on Tuesday and requested a federal disaster declaration.
“The President granted the state’s request,” Abbott said in a press release Tuesday evening. “The State of Texas may make additional requests as damage assessments are completed.”
Patrick accused the president of turning Beryl into “a political issue” and called his complaints “a load of malarkey.”
“[Biden] is falsely accusing me that I was not reachable,” Patrick posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “He obviously did not know his own employees from FEMA were side-by-side with me for 3 days! All he had to do was call them and have them hand their phone to me. I even took a photo with them!”
