Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump visited North Carolina on Friday evening, taking questions from supporters in Fayetteville’s Crown Center Arena during his first visit since Hurricane Helene devastated the western part of the state.
Trump said he believed the federal response to the storm had been “rotten” and “terrible.”
“They are doing — this is Katrina — the worst job on a hurricane that any administration has ever done. And these people don’t want to talk about it,” Trump said, gesturing toward the press.
The former president is set to visit western North Carolina sometime next week. He said on social media Thursday he didn’t “want to do anything that’s going to interrupt their rescue efforts.”
President Joe Biden surveyed the damage from the air earlier this week alongside Gov. Roy Cooper. Vice President Kamala Harris is also set to visit the region on Saturday.
Trump and his allies on Friday also continued to tout untrue claims about the response to Helene across impacted states.
In an aside, he said that FEMA was “missing a billion dollars” — seemingly referring to the circulating claim that money had instead gone to migrant communities. FEMA says that no such money was diverted. Separate funds are dedicated for disaster relief and for Customs and Border Patrol, and cannot be allocated for other use.
And U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida), who moderated the event, said it was her opinion that federal authorities have “intentionally not helped out residents” because “it’s red communities impacted.”
Since the storm struck one week ago, FEMA has delivered approximately 6.1 million liters of water and 4.1 million meals. More than 70,000 people have registered for individual assistance through FEMA. Power has been restored to more than 800,000 customers.
The director of FEMA has also been on the ground in western North Carolina, and a federal emergency aid request for the region has been granted. More than 5,000 federal personnel are actively working across impacted states, including 1,500 from FEMA.
President Biden approved Governor Cooper’s request on Wednesday for 1,000 active-duty military personnel from Fort Liberty to support the ongoing operations in Western North Carolina.
Much of Trump’s town hall was dedicated to discussion of military and immigration issues.
He pledged to revert Fort Liberty’s name to Fort Bragg, originally named for a Confederate general. Later, a man who said he was an active duty soldier referred to the base as “Fort Liberty” during a question, and was booed by the crowd.
Trump made time to praise Michael Whatley and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, co-chairs of the Republican National Committee, inviting both on the stage. Trump again failed to mention Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial nominee. Robinson has been sliding in the polls in recent weeks, even among members of his own party.
Ahead of Trump’s town hall, Democratic officials in Fayetteville blasted Trump and Lt. Gov. Robinson.
“Trump is coming here not to help anyone, but to spread more of his dangerous lies,” said Sen. Val Applewhite, a Cumberland County veteran.