Biden says US facing 'one of the most difficult moments in our history'

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(CNN)Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Monday that President Donald Trump's refusal to acknowledge the scientific reality of the climate crisis is "unconscionable" and that he has failed to protect the United States from the "ravages of climate change."

"Donald Trump's climate denial may not have caused these fires and record floods and record hurricanes, but if he gets a second term, these hellish events will continue to become more common, more devastating and more deadly," Biden said, speaking from Wilmington, Delaware.

Biden's comments come as historic wildfires that have killed at least 35 people, displaced thousands and burned millions of acres rage in the western part of the United States. Trump is in California and expected to receive a briefing Monday afternoon on the state's wildfires.

The former vice president said, "If you give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised if we have more of America ablaze? If you give a climate denier four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised when more of America is under water?"

At a campaign rally on Saturday in Nevada, Trump blamed the fires on "forest management," despite scientists and local officials attributing the intensity of this season's fires to the climate crisis.

Trump has over the years attacked California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and other California politicians for the state's response to fires and other environmental issues. Trump has received criticism for casting sole blame on the state's forest management practices, since the federal government manages more than half of California's forest land.

Biden said he and his wife, Jill Biden, continue to pray for those affected by the wildfires.

Biden said Monday that the United States is facing one of the most difficult moments in the nation's history, with "four historic crises all at the same time." 

"The worst pandemic in a hundred years, that's already killed nearly 200,000 people and counting. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, that's cost tens of millions of American jobs and counting. Emboldened white supremacy unseen since the '60s and a reckoning on race that's long overdue. And undeniable acceleration of the punishing reality of climate change on our planet, on our people, on the lives and livelihoods," Biden said.

Biden said the interlocking of the crisis "requires action, not denial. Requires leadership, not scapegoating and requires a president to meet the threshold duty of the office, to care, to care for everyone."

This story is breaking and will be updated.

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