WASHINGTON – FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said Wednesday that the swirl of misinformation being spread by right-wing influencers on social media — and by former President Donald Trump — about the federal disaster response to Hurricane Helene is starting to wane.
“We’re still seeing some misinformation out there. I do believe that the volume of misinformation is starting to go down,” Criswell said on a call with members of the press. “But we need to continue to now remain focused on what our mission is: Our mission is to help people.”
“We are not going to let the misinformation be a distraction to the important work we need to do,” she added.
During a separate appearance before the White House press corps, Criswell was asked if there’s been a specific piece of misinformation that’s been most damaging to FEMA’s disaster response efforts.
“Honestly, I think all of it is damaging to our ability to be able to reach people,” the FEMA chief told reporters, speaking virtually. “It’s intentional to create distrust and that level of distrust is ... un-American.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has had to counter a surge of misinformation amid its disaster response to Helene. Prominent Republicans have fueled these rumors. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) claimed the U.S. government is able to control the weather and has targeted predominantly GOP states. Trump falsely claimed the Biden administration is taking money from FEMA and using it to help immigrants vote illegally in the November elections. Trump also falsely claimed FEMA is only giving $750 to survivors of Helene.
As FEMA prepares for Hurricane Milton, which was on track to hit Florida later Wednesday and potentially decimate the Tampa Bay region, it is bracing for more misinformation. But this time around, some Republicans are calling out members of their own party for spreading dangerous lies.
“NEW FLASH —> Humans cannot create or control hurricanes,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) wrote on social media on Wednesday, in response to Greene making this claim. “Anyone who thinks they can, needs to have their head examined.”
Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) created a new fact sheet for Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee about FEMA’s disaster relief fund. It spells out that there is “no funding connection between” FEMA’s migrant shelter program and its disaster relief fund, rebutting Trump’s false claim.
The fact sheet also states that there is “no intermingling of funding between these two programs” and that “the only connection is that both programs are administered by FEMA.”
Here’s a copy of Amodei’s primer on FEMA’s disaster relief fund:
FEMA has been stepping up its efforts to counter all the bad information. It set up a page on its website, “Hurricane Helene: Rumor Response,” dedicated to countering unverified claims. North Carolina state officials set up a similar rumor-busting webpage of their own. And in their calls with the press, FEMA officials routinely debunk the latest rumors.
“That is absolutely not true,” Keith Turi, acting director of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, said Monday in response to the $750 claim being spread by Trump.
Turi also shot down false claims that FEMA is confiscating people’s possessions when it goes in to help disaster survivors, calling lies like this ” extremely damaging to the response efforts.”
“It is reducing the likelihood that survivors will come to FEMA and register for assistance,” he warned. “It’s important we have those trusted relationships with all of our partners and the public, and that misinformation is directly impacting our ability.”
In unexpected remarks, President Joe Biden on Wednesday demanded that people stop spreading misinformation about disaster response efforts. He specifically called out Trump for leading “the onslaught of lies” and Greene for her “bizarre” claim about the government controlling the weather.
“It’s beyond ridiculous. It’s got to stop,” Biden said to the cameras ahead of a White House briefing about preparations for Milton. “In moments like this, there are no red or blue states. There’s one United States of America, where neighbors are helping neighbors. Volunteers and first responders are risking everything, including risking their own lives, to help their fellow Americans.”
Jonathan Nicholson contributed reporting.
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