A Maui resident grew visibly emotional during a CNN appearance Thursday, asking why President Joe Biden was taking so long to visit and asked if Hawaiians aren’t “Americans too.”
“It’s really affecting me because where’s the President?” Maui resident Ella Sable Tacderan asked. “I mean, aren’t we Americans, too? We’re part of the United States. Why are we getting put in the back pocket? Why are we being ignored?”
Biden notably waited to announce that he was coming to visit Hawaii until Tuesday. When initially asked by a reporter if he had “any comment on the rising death toll in Maui” a few days earlier on Sunday, Biden said he had “no comment.”
Biden announced that he would visit Hawaii during an event in Wisconsin on Tuesday.
“My wife Jill and I are gonna travel to Hawaii as soon as we can, and that’s what I’ve been talking to the governor about. I don’t want to get in the way. I’ve been to too many disaster areas, but I want to go and make sure they’ve got everything they need, and I want to be sure we don’t disrupt the ongoing recovery efforts,” he said.
The president and first lady are expected to travel to Hawaii on Monday.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back on criticism that Biden was ignoring the disaster in an appearance on CNN Wednesday.
“He has been talking about this,” Jean-Pierre told “CNN This Morning” co-host Phil Mattingly, adding that the relief work in Hawaii is “a long-term effort.”
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE PUSHES BACK ON BIDEN IGNORING MAUI WILDFIRES: ‘HE HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT THIS’
Tacderan claimed that her parents have received a small check of $700 from the government, which she said felt like a “slap in the face.”
“My parents received a check for $700, which was a slap in the face,” she told CNN host Kaitlan Collins. “$700 was given by the government, and I feel like it’s not enough. Living in Hawaii,” she added, “everything is so expensive. Groceries can be as much as $700 just for one grocery run. And it’s not enough.”
Tacderan pointed out that elderly families in Hawaii are basically “computer illiterate,” which may be the reason why some of them are being “turned away” on their applications for aid from FEMA.
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