Trump Blew Off Disaster Relief Requests From Washington, Other States
Donald Trump refused a request for federal disaster relief funds from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee in 2020 after wildfires tore through the eastern portion of the states, Politico’s E&E News reports.
The dispute between the former president and Democratic governor adds yet another entry to Trump’s record of injecting partisan politics into disaster response efforts — all while he attempts to accuse President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris of intentionally withholding aid from Republican areas affected by hurricanes in the southeastern United States.
According to E&E News, Inslee requested $37 million in federal disaster funds in September 2020 to respond to the fires. According to the governor, Trump ignored the request, refusing to approve the aid even after a FEMA inspection confirmed that the damage to Washington communities met the threshold for federal assistance. The aid was ultimately approved by President Biden two weeks after he took office — about five months after the fires swept the region.
“It really was an outrageous abuse of power,” Inslee told E&E News.
Trump and Inslee had been engaged in a public back-and-forth over the Trump’s administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the former president called Inslee a “snake” after Inslee tweeted that pandemic mitigation efforts would “be more successful if the Trump administration stuck to the science and told the truth.”
It’s not the first time Trump’s personal feelings about a politician hindered his administration’s response to a natural disaster. Through their investigation into the Washington fires, E&E News also found three other instances in which federal disaster funds were delayed significantly beyond the usual average of 17 days for presidential approval during public feuds between Trump and state leaders.
Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) certified Georgia’s 2020 election results three days after requesting federal funds to aid communities affected by a major tropical storm. Trump — publicly enraged at Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s refusal to usurp the election results in his favor — ignored the request for almost two months, finally approving the aid days before he left office.
Records reviewed by E&E News found that Trump also waited 97 days to approve aid for Utah after a series of storms in October 2020. Weeks after the state made the request, then-Gov. Gary Herbert — a Republican — publicly affirmed Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.
He didn’t approve a disaster relief request from Maryland’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan at all. Hogan had been publicly critical of Trump, and went on to support efforts to impeach him after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Hogan’s request came on November 12 — days after networks called the election in favor of Biden — and was not approved until after Biden was inaugurated.
The withholding of aid over the final months of Trump’s administration reflects a larger pattern throughout his presidency. Earlier this month, E&E News reported that in 2018 Trump refused to approve disaster aid for areas affected by wildfires in California until members of his staff showed him data proving that the affected counties contained a sufficient number of his supporters. Earlier this month, Trump threatened to withhold aid from California because he doesn’t like the state’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newson. “We’re going to take care of your situation, and will force it down [Newsom’s] throat,” Trump told supporters. “And we’ll say, Gavin, if you don’t do it, we’re not giving any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the fire, forest fires that you have. It’s not hard to do.”
The Trump administration also blocked nearly $20 billion in hurricane relief to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which ravaged the island in 2017.
By contrast, Trump is perfectly happy to help out state leaders who he feels have been deferential enough to him. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis described speaking to Trump in 2019 after Hurricane Michael in a memoir published last year. “This is Trump country — and they need your help,” DeSantis pitched Trump, as part of a pitch to have the federal government cover all of the state’s recovery costs instead of the standard 75 percent. “They love me in the panhandle,” the former president replied. “I must have won 90 percent of the vote out there. Huge crowds. What do they need?”
Shortly after, Trump signed an executive order approving DeSantis’ request.
Trump plays favorites, and has made it clear that — even as president — he feels he owes nothing to those who don’t lavish him with praise and support.
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