Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration and Harris campaign. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren On Monday, as President JOE BIDEN received briefings on the federal response to Hurricane Helene and another potentially even more devastating storm, Hurricane Milton, he requested his team brief him on a new, related threat — the deluge of misinformation that could complicate efforts to help people. In addition to tracking Milton on its approach and FEMA’s mobilization, Biden wanted his team’s plan to cut through the thicket of BS — ranging from tales that FEMA money is going to migrants to the government withholding aid. The White House’s response strategy, in part, has been to flood the airwaves. This week alone, Biden officials have participated in over a hundred interviews on the hurricanes, according to a White House official. While some have been hitting the big network and cable shows, they’ve also focused on local and consumer outlets. Vice President KAMALA HARRIS called into The Weather Channel on Wednesday afternoon to talk about response efforts. Health and Human Services Secretary XAVIER BECERRA is talking with BENJAMIN ZAMORA, an independent news content creator with 6 million followers. Some officials have been on podcasts. Others have gone on the “Enrique Santos Show” and the “Rickey Smiley Morning Show,” as well as a wide range of radio stations — including country, hip hop, classic rock and classical music stations. And White House aides have been working the phones to get in touch with journalists at local papers in the Southeast to make sure they had the latest stats of on-the-ground resources. White House aides described the ramped up communications effort and the scramble to book officials on various media as an all-hands-on-deck approach, as they’ve raced against the rapidly spreading misinformation, particularly on the social media platform X. FEMA administrator DEANNE CRISWELL, Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG, Office of Public Engagement director STEVE BENJAMIN and Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS are just some of the officials who have been talking to reporters and appearing on radio and TV shows. Even Biden’s Wednesday evening remarks were delivered with the hope that his latest update on the storm, now a Category-3 major hurricane, and the federal response would lead the 6:30 p.m. network news broadcasts. Misinformation in the wake of a natural disaster is not new. But what is new is prominent leaders like DONALD TRUMP and ELON MUSK using their large platforms to amplify and spread inaccurate information to undercut the government’s response. White House aides said that shortly after Hurricane Helene hit, they began hearing from officials on the ground — including governors, mayors and members of FEMA and the National Guard — who were disturbed by the amount of odd claims they were hearing from people affected by the storm, ranging from someone who refused help because they were convinced FEMA was going to seize their house, to others who were angered over their belief that federal relief funds had been drained to help migrants. Misinformation has been of particular interest to the president, who spoke publicly about the issue twice on Wednesday. Seated at a desk in the South Auditorium Wednesday afternoon, Biden said “Trump has led the onslaught of lies.” Later that evening, he called Trump’s decision to spread misinformation “reckless” and “un-American,” and told reporters he didn’t understand why the former president was doing it. More robust efforts to fight misinformation are just one facet of the administration’s broader response, which comes in the final weeks of a presidential election that looks incredibly close and could hinge on a leadership moment or misstep related to the storm response. Harris, during an appearance Tuesday on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” urged people in the storm’s path to ignore misinformation and seek the government’s help, blasting those sowing mistrust for political reasons. “Have you no empathy, man, for the suffering of other people?” she said, seeming to address Trump directly. “Being a leader means lifting people up in a time of need, and not manipulating them.” On Monday, Biden asked for a briefing on where FEMA resources were being positioned and directed his team to keep scaling up response efforts, according to a person familiar with the White House’ efforts. As of Wednesday evening, there were 1,400 search and rescue personnel on the ground in Florida supporting the government’s Milton response, including 7 incident management teams, and massive amounts of other resources: 400 ambulances, 20 helicopters for medical requirements, 60 high-water vehicles, 20 million meals and 40 million liters of water, according to a White House official. With Criswell in Tampa to coordinate directly with local leaders on Monday, Biden spoke with Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS, who said the state had what it needed. The president gave the governor his personal cell phone number in case anything additional came up as the storm made landfall. On Tuesday, Biden convened another meeting in the Roosevelt Room before leaving for an event in Milwaukee, directing federal agencies to prioritize saving lives and urging anyone in the storm’s path to take precautions. That afternoon, the White House launched a new account on Reddit, another platform where it hoped to communicate about the hurricane and counter misinformation. As Biden flew from Milwaukee to Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon, he called Clearwater (Fla.) Mayor BRUCE RECTOR and Pinellas County (Fla.) Commission Chair KATHLEEN PETERS about storm prep, passing along his personal cell to them as well. MESSAGE US — Are you SOPHIA SOKOLOWSKI, senior adviser in the office of intergovernmental affairs? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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