Former President Donald Trump’s approach to disaster relief was often influenced by political considerations, according to E&E News.

Mark Harvey, Trump’s former senior director for resilience policy, disclosed that Trump initially refused to approve disaster aid for California after the 2018 wildfires due to the state’s Democratic leanings.

“We went as far as looking up how many votes he got in those impacted areas … to show him these are people who voted for you,” Harvey said. Trump eventually approved the aid after learning about the number of his supporters in affected areas.

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There were other instances where Trump’s disaster response appeared politically motivated. In 2019, he ordered FEMA to pay 100% of recovery costs in Florida’s Panhandle, a Republican stronghold, while threatening to veto similar measures for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

Former Trump officials Olivia Troye and Mark Harvey suggest that Trump is approaching Hurricane Helene with a similar mindset, politicizing a disaster that has claimed over 170 lives across six states.

However, not all former Trump officials share this view. Brock Long, former FEMA Administrator under Trump, denied that the president slow-walked aid to Democratic areas, pointing to the substantial funds allocated to California for wildfire recovery and Puerto Rico after Maria.

The article notes that Trump approved 89 disasters in states that opposed him, including 17 in California. Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, stated, “There really is no difference that I’ve seen” between Trump’s and Biden’s FEMA administrators.

As the debate continues, this revelation underscores the importance of keeping politics out of disaster relief efforts.

Read more at E&E News