President Trump says the disaster relief agency FEMA is a disaster itself.
Trump took aim at the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week in a post online saying the federal office focuses aid on Democratic areas and is "slow and totally ineffective."
Truth be told, disaster victims often face long waits while trying to get FEMA relief they desperately need. A Scripps News investigation over the summer found delays were a problem going back at least 20 years. Families in Florida spent many months after Hurricane Ian living in campers and other temporary housing while waiting for FEMA to pay out their legitimate claims so they could afford the cost of rebuilding.
FEMA, then under President Biden, said it was working to streamline anti-fraud security checks that could slow getting money out the door.
As a candidate, Trump hammered a message that FEMA was purposely ignoring victims of hurricane Helene in Republican parts of North Carolina.
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It's true one FEMA employee was fired for telling her team to avoid homes with pro-Trump signs, but former FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said that was not part of FEMA policy.
"The evidence I have seen so far shows that this was an isolated incident and has not gone beyond what this one employee did," Criswell testified at a congressional hearing in November.
FEMA also initially struggled to reach certain washed out areas in western North Carolina after Helene, and had to briefly scale back operations because of a threat to staff amid a deluge of misinformation, including some from Trump himself.
In the end, FEMA helped more than 154,000 families in North Carolina with aid, with assistance also going to other southeastern states. The response won praise from Democrats and even some big-name Republicans including South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster who called the federal government's Helene response "superb."
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