'Our support, our love, our prayers' | What Trump, GA Gov. Kemp said during Hurricane Helene press conference

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. — Former President Donald Trump and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp held a press conference in Georgia Friday, discussing the response to Hurricane Helene and the damage the storm left in its path.

“Resilience and hope have been on full display everywhere we’ve gone — including here in Columbia County,” Kemp said.

The press conference was in Evans, which is roughly 30 minutes outside of Augusta.

Kemp’s remarks reflected many of the points he raised during a press conference on Thursday while Trump commended Kemp’s response to Hurricane Helene and highlighted the first responders addressing the storm’s damage. 

“We just met a group of really wonderful patriots that are working really hard,” Trump said. “They’ve done it before, but they told me they’ve never seen one like this, Brian. This is the worst they’ve seen.”

Politicians have crisscrossed the hardest hit areas of Georgia after Hurricane Helene hit the state one week ago. Both Kemp, Trump, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have made stops in Georgia to evaluate the damage and lay out the road ahead. 

Just a day earlier, Biden held a press conference Thursday outside a pecan farm 30 minutes outside of Valdosta. On Wednesday, Harris was in Augusta as well.

The speech in Evans marks Trump’s second visit to Georgia since the storm hit last week.

“We’re here in Evans, Georgia to express our support, our love, our prayers to all of the communities, and the suffering — it’s not even believable,” Trump said.

Trump highlighted the storm’s toll on infrastructure, on farmers and the lives lost in Georgia and across the southeast. Trump also noted the number of people unaccounted for, which is believed to be in the hundreds nationwide.

“Our heart breaks for the more than 200 American families who have lost their lives already, officially 200, and unfortunately that number is going to be going up,” Trump said. 

During his section of the press conference, Kemp noted that he has authorized the Georgia National Guard to deploy a crew and a helicopter to aid in search and rescue operations in North Carolina, offering help to neighboring states who have helped them in the past. 

“What they’re going through  — what we’re all going through  — is a living nightmare, and we’re going to continue to pull together as we go through this together,” Kemp said. “We will not stop until everyone is recovered and made whole.” 

Trump also highlighted the efforts of Elon Musk to deploy StarLink kits to affected areas, including North Carolina and Georgia, waiving costs to those headed toward hurricane-ravaged areas.

“He acted really, really quickly,” Trump said. “There was no communication, the poles are down, the wires are down, and he acted really quickly.”

Trump says that if he is involved in future recovery efforts after the election, Georgia will “receive the best treatment,” noting previous recovery efforts that occurred during his administration.

“We worked two or three times on big storms, but I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this,” Trump said.

As the state works to recover, Kemp promised to continue urging the White House and FEMA to add additional states to a list of affected counties, which opens up additional federal resources. 

“We’ll continue to urge FEMA to add more impacted counties to the federal declaration list,” Kemp said.  “We started with just 11, and after a call to the White House and FEMA, they upped that number considerably to 43-44 counties.” 

But as the state — and the country — works to recover, Trump emphasized the effort of first responders and their hard work in the aftermath of Helene. 

“I will tell you, I have no doubt that whatever can be done is going to be done,” Trump said. “It’s going to take time. It’s going to take a lot of effort.”