Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, speaks at a press conference at the White House in Washington, U.S., on September 26, 2024.
Elisabeth Franz | Reuters
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Dean Criswell on Sunday criticized former President Donald Trump for spreading false information about how the Biden administration was allocating disaster relief funds for Hurricane Helene recovery.
“This is frankly ridiculous and just plain wrong,” Criswell said in a statement. interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “This kind of rhetoric doesn’t help people. It’s a real shame that we’re putting politics before helping people.”
As hurricane season intensifies, Trump falsely claimed last week that the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not have enough money to aid relief efforts because the White House had diverted the funds to “illegal immigration into the country.”
FEMA and other agencies have since fact-checked the falsehoods.
About FEMA’s “Rumor Response” Web pagethe agency specifically responded to claims that Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief funds “were diverted to support international efforts or border-related issues.”
“This is wrong. No funds are being used for disaster relief needs,” the agency wrote.
The Department of Homeland Security and the White House have issued separate statements fact-checking and condemning these false claims.
But the Trump campaign and the former president’s allies, like Tesla and SpaceX CEO MuskContinue to spread disinformation about Helen’s recovery efforts in an effort to turn the devastating hurricane into a campaign attack against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Criswell on Sunday called the rhetoric “demoralizing for all first responders who are helping people in our communities.”
While FEMA’s budget has been tight over the past year, the agency received a roughly $20 billion cash infusion from a temporary appropriations bill passed by Congress to avert a government shutdown, which took effect last Tuesday.
White House officials and representatives from Helen-affected areas said Congress may need to pass a supplemental disaster relief package to further aid FEMA’s reconstruction efforts.
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