ROUNDUP: The Biden-Harris Administration Is Helping Hurricane Victims While Trump is Lying to Help Himself

Washington, D.C. – The Biden-Harris administration has spent two weeks coordinating federal disaster response efforts, helping the victims of Hurricane Helene while making preparations for Hurricane Milton. While Biden and Harris have been busy sending more than $100 million in aid, thousands of federal personnel, food, and fresh drinking water to the Southeast, Donald Trump has been busy hampering hurricane response efforts with a nonstop stream of lies because he thinks it will help him. These are the facts:

Kamala Harris is Helping Americans Threatened by Hurricanes…

FACT: The Biden-Harris administration has sent more than $137 million in aid to six states in the Southeast, including 7,000 federal personnel, nearly 15 million meals, 14 million liters of water, 157 generators, and more than half a million tarps.

FACT: While assessing hurricane damage in Augusta, Georgia, Kamala Harris announced that the Biden-Harris administration approved 100% federal reimbursement for local and state emergency costs related to Hurricane Helene.

FACT: FEMA has shipped over 14.9 million meals, more than 13.9 million liters of water, 157 generators, and more than 505,000 tarps to areas affected by Hurricane Helene.

FACT: Several Republican governors in southeastern states hit by Hurricane Helene have praised the Biden-Harris administration’s response.

FACT: CBS17, “Army convoys providing supplies, support to especially hard-hit communities in NC after Helene,”

• “From federal to grassroots organizations, the communities of western North Carolina continue to make progress toward recovery in the wake of Hurricane Helene.”

FACT: WKRN ABC Nashville, “Power crews making progress in East TN, West NC”

…While Donald Trump is Hampering Hurricane Response Efforts with Lies to Help Himself

FACT: Huffington Post, “’He Just Makes It Up’: Mitt Romney Slams Trump For Lies About Migrants, FEMA Aid”

• “He is able to spew enough disinformation that the Chinese must be smiling.”

FACT: The Hill, “Furious officials say misinformation is harming hurricane response” 

• “Falsehoods about government funding were among the most shared claims on social media, including by former President Trump…”

FACT: The Washington Post, “No, Biden didn’t take FEMA relief money to use on migrants — but Trump did”

FACT: Bloomberg op-ed by disinformation expert and University Mich professor Barbara McQuade, “Trump’s Lies About FEMA Only Hurt Hurricane Victims”

FACT: CNN, “Fact check: Six days of Trump lies about the Hurricane Helene response”

FACT: The New Republic, “Even Fox News Had to Fact-Check Team Trump’s Hurricane Lies”

FACT: CBS, “Misinformation has surged following Hurricane Helene. Here’s a fact check.”

FACT: Vox, “Donald Trump’s many, many lies about Hurricane Helene, debunked; Rampant disinformation is getting in the way of disaster response”

…Because Trump’s Own Agenda and Record on Disaster Response is Indefensible

FACT: Trump and Vance’s Project 2025 playbook would eradicate climate science from government, demolish NOAA, and privatize the National Weather Service, putting lifesaving information about catastrophes like Helene behind a paywall. 

FACT: Five months into Trump’s presidency, FEMA and NOAA did not have administrators. Trump imposed a government-wide hiring freeze that resulted in 216 vacant positions at the National Weather Service.

FACT: Trump refused to give timely aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, put more people in danger with his botched disaster relief, then threw paper towels at a crowd of survivors instead.

FACT: Trump suggested nuking a hurricane. 

FACT: Trump redrew the path of Hurricane Dorian with a black sharpie to include Alabama, then tweeted and put out official statements that the hurricane would hit Alabama. As scientists anticipated, it never hit Alabama.