FACT CHECK: Donald Trump’s Disaster Response Record is Indefensible

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Donald Trump does nothing but lie about the Biden-Harris administration’s hurricane response record because he can’t defend his own record of withholding disaster aid, diverting first responder resources, ignoring and refusing to prepare for extreme weather, botching relief efforts, and mocking victims. 

FACT: Trump’s shameless photo op in Valdosta, GA, diverted dozens of first responders from early relief efforts for Hurricane Helene. 

FACT: Trump blocked disaster 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 while claiming that Puerto Rico’s disaster relief was complicated by “Big water. Ocean water.”

FACT: Trump shrank the National Weather Service, leaving more than 200 positions vacant ahead of Hurricanes Maria, Irma, and Harvey. After more than 100 deaths and $125 billion in damage, Trump joked that Texas made a “fortune” after Hurricane Harvey. 

FACT: Trump repeatedly withheld disaster aid from states that didn’t vote for him during his presidency. 

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

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

FACT: Trump suggested nuking a hurricane. 

FACT: Trump’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: 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. 

FACT: After Trump revoked critical flood standards, the U.S. saw five different billion-dollar flooding events that caused $28.6 billion in damages and killed 37 people during Trump’s presidency.