President Joe Biden will travel to Hawaii on Monday to survey damage from the deadly wildfires, the White House said, after the president took criticism for going four days without speaking about the disaster.
Biden will meet with first responders and survivors, as well as federal, state, and local officials, the White House said in a statement.
Biden first spoke about the fires on Thursday, announcing a federal disaster declaration for Hawaii. But the president then went four days without mentioning the disaster, even as the confirmed death toll surpassed 100.
While the bodies were being counted, Biden was on vacation in Delaware, lounging at the beach. When the press tried to ask him about the disaster on Sunday, after he had spent hours by the water, Biden simply replied, "No comment."
Mainstream media outlets didn't spare the president for his wooden response to questions about the fire.
"It’s the sort of split-screen moment that no White House relishes," one NBC News story read. "While Maui counted its dead Sunday, President Joe Biden sat on the beach in Delaware, rode his bicycle and said little about the deadliest wildfire to hit the U.S. in a century."