WASHINGTON CNN —
Former President Donald Trump has made a litany of lies and distortions about the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helen.
Various misinformation about this response spread widely without President Trump’s involvement, but the Republican presidential candidate was one of the nation’s leading deceivers on the issue. For six days, in public comments and social media posts, President Trump has used a powerful megaphone to endorse or fabricate false or unsubstantiated claims.
The primary targets of hurricane-related fraud were Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden, his opponents in the November presidential election.
Monday: Trump falsely claims Biden didn’t answer phone call from Georgia governor
During a visit to Georgia on Monday, President Trump said of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, “He’s been calling the president and he’s not getting through.”
It quickly became clear that Trump’s claims were false. Kemp, a Republican, told reporters early Monday that he had spoken to Biden the day before and that Kemp was the first to not respond to Biden’s call, not the other way around.
Kemp told reporters he was able to quickly call Biden. Kemp added: “He just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I said to him, ‘I have what you need.’ We will proceed through the federal process. ”If I needed anything else, he offered to call me directly. That’s a blessing. But the state’s operations center in Atlanta has been incorporating FEMA for a day or two before the storm hit. We have a great relationship with them. ”
Monday: President Trump cites unsubstantiated “reports” of anti-Republican bias in North Carolina response
President Trump said of North Carolina in a social media post Monday: It’s their way of not helping people in Republican areas. ”
It’s unclear what kind of “report” President Trump was getting, but the underlying idea is that the Biden administration and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper are maliciously abandoning certain communities out of partisan bias. There was no obvious basis for the claim.
Trump offered no evidence when pressed by reporters later that day.
Thursday: President Trump falsely claims Biden-Harris response received ‘universally’ negative reviews
President Trump said in a social media post Thursday that Biden and Harris “have been given poor reviews across the board, especially for how they handled the hurricane in North Carolina.”
That was far from accurate. The Biden administration’s response has certainly been criticized, but local leaders, including Republican governors in some of the affected states, the Democratic governor of North Carolina, and even hard-line Democratic mayors, He was also praised by local leaders. -Hit Asheville, North Carolina.
For example, Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster pointed out at a press conference Tuesday that Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called him and told him to let them know whatever the state needs. He said the government’s support was “fantastic”. McMaster also said he received a call from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.
Thursday: Trump falsely claims Harris spent “all FEMA money” housing illegal immigrants
At a campaign rally in Michigan on Thursday, President Trump claimed that “Mr. Kamala has spent all of FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal immigrants who should not be in our country.” . He promoted election-related conspiracy theories, saying, “They stole FEMA funds, just like they stole from banks, so they could give them to illegal immigrants who they want to vote this season. ” he said.
This is incorrect.
First, President Trump’s suggestion that the Biden administration is implementing some kind of plan to force illegal immigrants to vote illegally in the 2024 election is completely unfounded. Voting by non-citizens is a serious crime.
Second, there is no basis whatsoever to allege that FEMA disaster relief funds were stolen by anyone, let alone Harris personally, to house immigrants.
Congress appropriated $650 million in funding for programs to help state and local governments detain immigrants in fiscal year 2024, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection transferred that $650 million to FEMA to administer the program. He instructed the security bureau. But this $650 million fund is nothing like FEMA’s disaster relief fund. As the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, and independent monitors pointed out this week, these are just two separate things funded separately by Congress.
Congress has appropriated more than $35 billion in disaster relief funds for fiscal year 2024, according to official FEMA statistics.
Friday: President Trump falsely claims $1 billion was “stolen” from FEMA for immigrants and went missing.
Trump’s Thursday claims about FEMA funding and immigration had already been debunked by Friday, but Trump repeated the claims at least twice to reporters Friday and then later Friday night. He said the same thing again at a town hall event in North Carolina.
Saturday: President Trump falsely claims the federal government is only giving $750 to people who lost their homes.
At a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, President Trump strongly suggested that only $750 in federal aid would be available to Americans who lost their homes in the hurricane.
“They are giving $750 to people whose homes have been washed away. Yet we are sending tens of billions of dollars to foreign countries that most people have never heard of. They are being destroyed and these people are being destroyed,” Trump said. He added, “Think about it: We’re giving hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign countries, and we’re giving North Carolina $750.”
Mr. Trump’s claims are wrong. As FEMA explained earlier in the week on social media and on a webpage it created to combat misinformation about the response, the $750 will cover basic and immediate needs such as food, water, baby formula, and emergencies. This is only temporary preliminary assistance available to survivors. supplies. Survivors are also eligible to apply for thousands of dollars worth of additional assistance, including temporary housing and home repair costs. For example, the current maximum amount for home repair assistance is $42,500.
During Harris’ visit to Georgia on Wednesday, she said: And you can apply now. But right after that, she added, “FEMA is also making more money to help people deal with home repairs, to help them cover their deductibles if they have insurance, and if they have insurance.” “We are providing tens of thousands of dollars more to cover hotel costs,” he added.
It is also worth noting that this hurricane-related assistance to individual residents is separate from the hurricane-related assistance provided by the federal government to state governments. For example, the Federal Transit Administration announced Saturday that it would immediately provide $100 million to the North Carolina Department of Transportation “to cover the cost of emergency work resulting from Hurricane Helen’s flood damage.” Buttigieg added that this emergency funding will be followed by “additional federal funding.”
Saturday: President Trump falsely claims there is ‘no helicopter, no rescue’ in North Carolina
President Trump criticized Harris’ participation in a political fundraiser in California over the last weekend of September, saying at a Saturday rally in Pennsylvania that “Kamala was drinking and dining in San Francisco. , all the people of North Carolina, no helicopters, no rescue.” –It’s just — what happened there was very bad. ”
This claim regarding North Carolina is false. Although numerous government and private helicopters and other aircraft are involved in rescue and rescue operations in North Carolina, some residents die before they can be rescued, and a significant number remain missing or stranded for several days. I am doing it.
The North Carolina National Guard announced Thursday that the National Guard “completed 146 flight missions and rescued 538 people and 150 pets.” The Washington Post reported on Friday: “Helicopter drones have become routine in western North Carolina in the wake of the Helen incident, with National Guard and civilian aircraft now crisscrossing the area over areas where roads and bridges have been destroyed and people trapped. Helicopters deliver supplies, pick up people in need of rescue, drop off firefighters and search and rescue teams, and radio for assistance from others more easily accessible from the ground.
CNN reported Saturday that air traffic in western North Carolina has increased 300% over the past seven days due to hurricane relief efforts, according to North Carolina Aviation Director Becca Gallas. In an official update Saturday, the state said: “A total of 53 search and rescue teams from within and outside of North Carolina, consisting of more than 1,600 personnel, conducted search and rescue operations during this incident. Search and rescue teams interacted with more than 5,400 people, including assisting, evacuation and rescue.
