Donald Trump deliberately withheld disaster aid from states he considered politically hostile to him as US president and will do so again without hindrance if he returns to the White House, several former Trump administration officials warned.
As Hurricane Helene and then Hurricane Milton have devastated much of the southeastern US in the past two weeks, Trump has sought to blame Joe Biden's administration for a heavy response to the disasters, even suggesting that this was deliberate due to the number of Republican voters affected by the storms.
But former Trump administration officials have said that the former president, while in office, initially refused to release federal disaster aid for the California wildfires in 2018, withheld wildfire assistance for Washington state in 2020 and severely restricted emergency aid to Puerto Rico in the wake of devastating Hurricane Maria in 2017 because he felt these places were not supporting him enough.
The revelations, first reported by E&E News, have raised major questions about what Trump's response to the disasters would be if he were to win next month's presidential election. The former president has already come under fire for his role in spreading misinformation about Helene and Milton that allegedly slowed down the disaster response and even led to online death threats against Federal Emergency Management Agency staff and meteorologists ( Fema).
“Trump absolutely did not want to give aid to California or Puerto Rico solely for partisan political reasons, because they didn't vote for him,” said Kevin Carroll, a former senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly under Trump. Carroll said Kelly, later the president's chief of staff, had to “twist Trump's arm” to get him to release federal funds through Fema for these hard-hit areas.
“It was clear that Trump was completely selfish and vindictive towards those he perceived did not vote for him,” Carroll told The Guardian. “He even wanted to get the navy out of Hawaii because they didn't vote for him. We were dismayed: these are American civilians that the government must care for. “The concept of withholding help is the antithesis of everything expected of a leader.”
The effort to overcome Trump's reluctance to provide aid to California only succeeded after the then-president received voting data showing that Orange County, badly damaged by wildfires, has a large number of Republican voters, according to Olivia Troye, who was in charge of national security. Trump White House advisor.
“We had to sit down and figure out a way to come to terms with this because I was looking at everything through a political lens,” Troye told The Guardian. “There were cases where disaster declarations sat on his desk for days, we got phone calls all the time about how to speed things up, sometimes we had to get [Vice-President] Mike Pence will intervene.
“It was shocking and appalling for us to see a president of the United States behave in this way. Basically, if it doesn't benefit you, you don't care. We also saw this in the Covid pandemic, when it was red states versus blue states, and it's still evident in his behavior now, where he's politicizing disaster response. “It is dangerous and reckless.”
One of the most “egregious” delays, Troye said, came after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, causing widespread damage and nearly 3,000 deaths. In the wake of the disaster, Trump claimed that the death toll had been inflated “to make me look as bad as possible,” called the mayor of San Juan “crazy and incompetent,” and suspended billions of dollars in federal support for the island. .
Ultimately, Fema covered debris cleanup in Puerto Rico and Trump visited the U.S. territory and threw paper towels at hurricane survivors. But not all of the island's recovery costs were paid by the federal government, with an independent general inspector. report finding that Fema mismanaged aid distribution after Maria.
This came just months before Trump agreed to pay 100% of Florida's costs after the state was hit by Hurricane Michael. “They love me in the Panhandle,” Trump said, according to an autobiography written by Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida. “I must have won 90% of the votes. Big crowds. What do they need?
While officials around Trump were able to persuade him to give in a bit on these cases, the former president stood firm in refusing to provide disaster relief to Washington after wildfires ravaged the eastern part of the state, largely destroying the communities of Malden and Pine Metropolis, in 2020. .
For months, Trump denied Washington's request for federal aid because of his distaste for Jay Inslee, the state's Democratic governor and a prominent critic, according to an aide to Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican congresswoman whose district was devastated by wildfires.
McMorris Rodgers wrote to Trump to take his side in his dispute with Inslee while pleading with the president to release the funds. “Despite our governor’s personal bad faith vendetta against his administration, the people of my district need support and I implore you to continue to provide it to those who have been affected by devastating wildfires in our region,” McMorris Rodgers wrote.
Trump, however, did not agree to provide the aid, which was only granted once Joe Biden took office. “Trump knowingly and maliciously withheld aid in a fit of youthful resentment because my state had the gall to question his policies,” Inslee told The Guardian.
“The surprising thing is that Trump indulges his authoritarian instincts by refusing to help people. Most human beings would feel guilty punishing suffering people whose houses are in ashes or under 8 feet of water. Frankly, it's a window into the darkness of your soul. We have seen again with North Carolina that they will use natural disasters for their own purposes and fragile ego. “It is a clear and present danger.”
Carroll and Troye, former Trump administration officials, predicted there would be fewer restrictions on Trump withholding disaster aid if he wins another term in the White House. Several Trump allies, including those who wrote the conservative Project 2025 manifesto, have called for the Republican candidate to root out dissenters and install compliant political apparatchiks within the federal government to help implement his wishes.
“Next time you won't have the integrity of Mike Pence — you'll have JD Vance, who will do whatever Trump wants,” said Troye, who is a Republican but has endorsed Kamala Harris for president. “It is worrying to think of a future Trump administration with only loyalists in these positions around him in these types of moments that should not be partisan.
“I hope voters will pay close attention to the contrast between the responsible leadership shown by Biden and Harris and the dangerous behavior of Donald Trump.”
Last month, Trump signaled that his deal on disaster aid would not change if he were president again, warning that he would block aid to California unless the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, agreed to deliver more water to farmers.
“Gavin Newscum [Newsom] He is going to sign those papers,” Trump said. said of his golf course in California. “If you don't sign those papers, we're not going to give you the money to put out all your fires, and if we don't give you the money to put out your fires, you're going to be in trouble.”
Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, did not answer questions about the allegations made by Carroll and Troye, instead referencing Trump's efforts to improve wildfire management and repeated debunked claims that Fema has diverted disaster relief money to migrants. .
“President Trump visited Georgia twice in one week to tour the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene and has encouraged his supporters to donate more than $6 million to relief efforts on the ground,” he said.
“Kamala Harris stole $1 billion from Fema to pay for housing for illegal immigrants and now there is nothing left for struggling American citizens. “President Trump leads this tragic moment while, once again, Kamala leaves Americans behind.”