‘Frankly ridiculous’: FEMA administrator slams Trump for boosting false Helene recovery claims
Donald Trump and his allies like Elon Musk have been working to turn the Helene disaster into a campaign attack against Vice President Kamala Harris.
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Administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 26, 2024.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell on Sunday criticized former President Donald Trump for spreading false information about how the Biden administration allocated disaster relief funding for Hurricane Helene recovery.
"It's frankly ridiculous and just plain false," Criswell said in an interview on ABC's "This Week." "This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people. It's really a shame that we're putting politics ahead of helping people."
As hurricane season ramps up, Trump falsely claimed last week that FEMA was running out of money to aid its disaster relief efforts, because the White House had used the funds "on illegal migrants coming into the country."
Storm damaged cars sit along Mill Creek in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 30, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina.
Sean Rayford | Getty Images
FEMA and other agencies have since fact-checked that disinformation.
On FEMA's "Rumor Response" webpage, the agency specifically addressed the claim that FEMA disaster relief funding "was diverted to support international efforts or border related issues."
"This is false. No money is being diverted from disaster response needs," the agency wrote.
The Department of Homeland Security and White House have issued their own statements fact-checking and condemning the false claims.
But the Trump campaign and the former president's allies, such as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, have continued to boost disinformation about the Helene recovery effort, working to turn the devastating hurricane into a campaign attack against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk stands with Republican presidential nominee former U.S. president Donald Trump during a campaign rally, on the day Trump returns to the site of the July assassination attempt against him, in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
Criswell on Sunday called that rhetoric "demoralizing to all of the first responders that have been out there in their communities helping people."
Though FEMA has been working with a tight budget over the past year, the agency received a roughly $20 billion cash infusion from the stopgap funding bill that Congress passed to avert a government shutdown, which went into effect last Tuesday.
White House officials and representatives from areas hit by Helene have said that Congress will likely need to pass a supplemental disaster relief package to further aid FEMA's rebuilding effort.
