President Joe Biden has postponed his overseas trip this week due to Hurricane Milton, according to two sources familiar with the planning.
Biden was scheduled to depart for Berlin on Thursday and then travel to Angola in Southern Africa, returning to the U.S. on Oct. 15. It would mark the first time Biden would travel to the African continent as president.
“Given the projected trajectory and strength of Hurricane Milton, President Biden is postponing his upcoming trip to Germany and Angola in order to oversee preparations for and the response to Hurricane Milton, in addition to the ongoing response to the impacts of Hurricane Helene across the Southeast,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
In remarks to reporters on Tuesday, Biden said he still planned to visit the areas before his term ends.
Meteorologists and public officials have warned about the effects of Milton and have been strongly encouraging Florida residents in the areas of impact to evacuate.
Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for not immediately surveying damage from Helene on the ground, though they made clear that they didn’t want to cause a disruption. Biden and Harris visited North Carolina and Georgia a few days after the storm.
Trump has also made false claims about the administration’s response to Helene, including that FEMA had no money because it was being used on “illegal migrants.” As NBC News reported last week, the former president appears to have been conflating two separate FEMA funds and there’s no evidence the disaster relief funds were used for anything else.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Trump’s claims were “frankly ridiculous and just plain false.” During their visits to hurricane-ravaged areas, the president and vice president laid out the steps the administration has been taking to ease the on-the-ground recovery efforts, including deploying Defense Department troops to help local responders.
The hurricane is expected to make landfall along the west coast of Florida on Wednesday. Residents there are still reeling from the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene last month.
Criswell will be in Florida providing guidance and coordinating disaster response to Milton, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday. Acting FEMA Associate Administrator Keith Turi said Monday that the agency has “the resources that we need, both for the Helene response and for Hurricane Milton.”
In Angola, Biden was slated to meet with President João Lourenço to discuss shared priorities and partnerships including climate security, transitioning to clean energy and strengthening democracy and civic engagement, the White House said when it announced the trip last month.
The visit, the White House said, “celebrates the evolution of the U.S.-Angola relationship, underscores the United States’ continued commitment to African partners, and demonstrates how collaborating to solve shared challenges delivers for the people of the United States and across the African continent.”
A spokesperson for the German government said, “We very much regret the cancellation, but of course we understand given the situation in Florida. The White House informed us in advance.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
