WATCH: Biden and Harris discuss federal response after Helene and Milton strike U.S.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris held a briefing Friday at the White House on the federal response and recovery in the aftermath of Hurricanes Milton and Helene.
Watch Biden and Harris’ remarks in the player above.
The back-to-back hurricanes have jumbled the schedules of Harris and former President Donald Trump, both of whom devoted part of their recent days to tackling questions about the storm recovery effort.
Biden said ahead of Friday’s briefing about hurricane damage that estimates are that Hurricane Milton alone caused $50 billion of damage. He also said Trump is “just the biggest mouth” for disinformation about the government’s response.
The president added that the disinformation is a “permanent state of being for some extreme people,” but that he believes the country as a whole wants facts and bipartisan cooperation to address natural disasters.
READ MORE: Harris says Trump ‘incredibly irresponsible’ for spreading Helene misinformation
Trump and Harris have separately gone to Georgia to assess hurricane damage and pledge support. Harris also has visited North Carolina, requiring the candidates to cancel campaign events elsewhere and use up time that is a precious resource in the final weeks before any election. Both Georgia and North Carolina are political battlegrounds.
As the Democratic nominee, Harris has suddenly been a major part of the response to hurricanes, a role that traditionally has not involved vice presidents in prior administrations.
On Thursday, she participated virtually at a Situation Room briefing on Milton while she was in Nevada for campaign activities. She has huddled in meetings about response plans and on Wednesday phoned into CNN live to discuss the administration’s efforts.
At Friday’s briefing with Biden to discuss the hurricanes, Harris repeated a message that subtly ties back into her campaign policies to stop price gouging.
“To any company or individual that is using this crisis to jack up prices through illegal fraud or price gouging, whether it be at the gas pump, the airport or the hotel counter, we will be monitoring and there will be a consequence,” Harris said.
Her newfound importance was such that Biden was nudged to wrap up his remarks so she could speak, prompting him to joke, “She’s my boss here.”
Josh Boak of the Associated Press contributed to this report.