He brought along running mate Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana.
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However, a White House representative noted that in order for the president to visit, the Secret Service would require a great deal of law enforcement assistance, and so the visit had been delayed to allow emergency services to focus on the crisis at hand.
The governor of Louisiana said Sunday that Donald Trump’s trip to his state was “helpful” in getting the country’s attention on the devastating flooding around Baton Rouge.
President Obama finally caved and agreed to cut short his family vacation by visiting flood-stricken Louisiana after Donald Trump embarrassingly showed him up in a “presidential” visit of his own.
“Honestly, Obama ought to get off the golf course and get down there”, he said.
They ended the trip in St. Amant in Ascension Parish, where Trump saw photos of the flooding, briefly helped unload a truck of supplies for and told National Guard members they were doing good work.
Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, made the comments a day before President Obama is scheduled to visit the state.
The floods hit the state earlier this month (Aug16), killing at least 13 people and destroying more than 40,000 homes. I just want to be clear did you ask the White House not to come down?
Edwards, a Democrat, said Sunday he “had no complaints” about the administration’s response to the disaster and the aftermath. I said before he came down, we welcome him here. He has done his job by providing immediate federal resources and disaster relief.
Edwards was asked Sunday to respond to criticism, including in an August 17 newspaper editorial published by The Advocate that likened Obama’s R&R during flooding in southern Louisiana to President George W. Bush’s seemingly distant “fly-over” of the Gulf Coast in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina.
“It helped to shine a spotlight on Louisiana and on the dire situation that we have here … it was helpful”, Edwards told host Dana Bash about Trump’s visit.
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Obama is staying with his wife and two daughters on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in MA, and has been photographed playing golf while swathes of the southern state is underwater.
