The New York Times is fighting back against allegations that the legacy publication failed to fact-check when producing a recent report accusing the Trump administration of using disaster aid to influence political choices. In response to the report, Steven Cheung, assistant to the president and White House director of communications, wrote on X, “This story is complete fiction. Nobody is withholding any disaster aid. The 'expert' the NYT cites is actually a Democrat donor and extreme liberal nut job.” The Times shot back.
In a post to X, the Times wrote, “As our article factually reports, any suggestion that the administration is withholding aid comes directly from words spoken by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.”
The report details several instances in which President Donald Trump and his aides allegedly withheld disaster relief funds from states whose voters elected Democratic officials. In one instance, Trump had said he would withhold aid if Democrat Roy Cooper wins a seat in the Senate in North Carolina, and later said his remarks were a joke. However, the report says that states that vote for Democrats are seemingly penalized by having longer waits for aid, or their requests are denied. This was reportedly verified via an analysis of federal disaster declarations during Trump’s second term.
Last month in Ohio, Trump approved federal disaster aid one day before attending a rally for Republican Senator Jon Husted, who is running for re-election. The funding would support communities recovering from the severe storms that hit in August.
While recently speaking in Greenville, North Carolina on the impact of 2024’s Hurricane Helene, Trump referred to the storm as a “water-cane” due to the volume of rain. He blamed North Carolina former governor Roy Cooper, claiming he did nothing to help in post-cleanup. “It was a disaster,” Trump said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve been to some bad ones. This was one of the worst. Roy Cooper did nothing. And the only way it got fixed is when I became president on Jan. 20.” Cooper’s campaign aides reminded the public of the executive orders he issued while governor to speed up recovery from Helene.
Experts warn that the Trump administration’s actions highlight the risks of allowing political interests to influence disaster relief decisions. “People are smart enough to know that if the president wants to take away some people’s disaster aid, they can take away your disaster aid, and that’s just a bad system,” said Sarah Labowitz, a senior fellow who studies disaster policy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.