Sunny Hostin and her fellow co-hosts on The View are calling out Donald Trump for making false claims about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in light of Hurricane Helene.
While Republican governors and mayors have praised FEMA’s response to the Category 4 hurricane, the former president has accused the Biden-Harris administration of stealing funds and giving them to migrants.
“The Trump administration I think, of course, we all know thrives on despair,” Hostin said. “It thrives on fear and making people fear that but for Trump, they’re in real trouble. But he also is known for projecting.”
According to Hostin, Trump was the one who redirected emergency relief funds back when he was in office.
“In 2019, the Trump administration, in the middle of hurricane season, told Congress that it was taking $271 million from FEMA and from DHS programs, including $155 million from the disaster fund, to pay for immigration detention and temporary hearing locations for asylum seekers,” she said, referring to a Washington Post article.
Hostin also debunked Trump’s claim that victims of Hurricane Helene are only getting $750 in relief.
“That is not true. That is the immediate upfront payment that people are getting,” she said, noting that the Biden-Harris administration is giving out a maximum of $42,500 for home repair systems. “We’re talking about real change and real effort and he should be ashamed of himself.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin, who previously worked under the Trump administration, speculated that her former boss was spreading this rhetoric because North Carolina is a battleground state that he wants to win in the 2024 presidential election.
“He wants to scare North Carolina voters into supporting him thinking the Biden-Harris administration isn’t helping them,” she said.
Griffin also didn’t think Trump would continue to fight for victims if he won the presidency and North Carolina voted against him.
“This is a years-long rebuild. We need leaders who are going to work across the aisle. We need Congress who’s gonna have to authorize extra funding to get this place back,” she said. “And he just day-in and day-out demonstrates why he is so unfit for office.”
The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.