Fact check: As wildfires rage, Trump lashes out with false claims about FEMA and California water policy
CNN
Fact check: As wildfires rage, Trump lashes out with false claims about FEMA and California water policy
Another natural disaster, another series of false claims from President-elect Donald Trump. For years, Trump has littered his statements on California wildfires and other disasters with inaccurate assertions. He did it again on Wednesday as wildfires raged in Los Angeles County. Here is a fact check. Trump claimed on social media Wednesday that President Joe Biden is leaving him “NO MONEY IN FEMA.” Facts First: Trump’s claim is false. Though FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund was depleted last year by a series of major disasters, Biden signed a bill in December that replenished the fund. “The current balance of the Disaster Relief Fund is approximately $27 billion,” FEMA told CNN in an email on Wednesday. That sum may well prove inadequate to meet the needs created by every disaster that ends up happening this year, but it’s not “no money.” The December bill approved $29 billion in new money for the Disaster Relief Fund – Biden had asked Congress for $40 billion – plus billions more in other new disaster-related funding.
Garland tells Congress he plans to make Jack Smith report on Trump cases available once courts allow
Attorney General Merrick Garland told Congress he plans to make special counsel Jack Smith’s report on the cases against Donald Trump available to committee leaders and, ultimately, the public, once courts allow, marking the formal end of Smith’s office.