Johnson calls Biden admin's Helene response 'lack of leadership' and 'alarmed and disappointed'

Republican Louisiana House Speaker Mike Johnson has criticized the federal government's handling of Hurricane Helene, describing it as a "massive failure" and citing the hundreds of individuals who are still unaccounted for as evidence.

“At the federal level, this has been a massive failure. And you can just ask the people there on the ground. I have been there," Johnson told Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday," as Fox News reported

"I was in Georgia. I was in Florida, where Hurricane Helene made landfall, there on the coast. And then we’ll be going to the hardest hit parts of North Carolina on Wednesday of this week."

According to Johnson, the federal government should have been better prepared to respond to the hurricane because they had advance notice.

More from Johnson

“When you talk to the people who are directly affected, they will tell you this has been an abject failure. FEMA has lost sight of its core mission, I think, in so many cases, and the administration has not shown that they were prepared for this, this eventuality, and this terrible disaster, Johnson said.

The House Speaker went on to castigate the administration, saying, “They had more than a week’s notice of this, and yet we still have people who have not been served and even rescued.

“In North Carolina, it is a heartbreaking, tragic and infuriating situation to have the federal government fail, as they have well.”

In the month leading up to Election Day, Republicans have ramped up their criticisms of the federal government's handling of Hurricane Helene, prompting these remarks.

Storm Response

Officials from both the federal and state levels have pushed back against accusations that FEMA is a failure.

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis (R) recently expressed his admiration for the federal reaction, saying that the state's influence was unexpectedly stronger than anticipated.

“For anybody who thinks that any level of government, anybody here, could have been prepared precisely for what we’re dealing with here, clearly are clueless,” Tillis said. “But right now, I’m out here to say that we’re doing a good job.”

The federal government has also made an effort to debunk claims that disaster victims would not receive any financial aid from the federal government.