Donald Trump and Brian Kemp appeared at peace Friday when the pair appeared in Evans, despite the former president’s tendency to criticize the Georgia governor.
“We’ve always worked together very well,” Trump told national media, after his motorcade passed by throngs of adoring Columbia Countians.
The pair were at odds for several years after Kemp refused the former president’s call to stop the certification of 2020 Georgia election results. Trump was publicly insulting Kemp and his wife, Marty, as recently as July.
Kemp introduced Trump at the nation’s 45th president during the Friday appearance, which Trump said was about Hurricane Helene, not the November election.
“I’m not thinking about voters right now – I’m thinking about lives,” Trump said.
Kemp gave longer remarks ahead of Trump Friday, which followed a Tuesday storm-related appearance in Augusta and Vice President Kamala Harris’ Thursday stop in Augusta, which Kemp did not attend.
Kemp detailed some of the storm’s area horrors – the deaths of twin 1-year-olds and their mother, the deaths of 4- and 7- year-old children in a fire, people trapped in their homes or cars for days – and spoke of the perseverance of those helping with recovery. Georgia lost at least 33 residents in the disaster.
“Resilience and hope have been all on display,” Kemp said.
Trump said Kemp is “doing a fantastic job” with the recovery effort, as are others.
“We’ve just got a group of wonderful patriots that are working very hard,” the former president said.
He also commented on the number missing since the storm, a problem more often associated with North Carolina.
“Hopefully, they’ll be found and they’ll be found very healthy,” Trump said.
Not until he was questioned by reporters did Trump step up the rhetoric, saying Federal Emergency Management Agency funds were missing and been spent on undocumented workers instead.
“You have illegals. You have the migrants. I’m sure you’re reading about it. A lot of the money that was supposed to go to Georgia and North Carolina, already it’s gone to people who came into the country illegally,” he said.
FEMA has debunked the claims, saying the federal funds being referenced by Republican politicians hadn’t been diverted from disaster response needs. Instead the FEMA funds refer to a separate, Congressionally-authorized program that funds humanitarian services for non-U.S. citizens.
