Lara Trump tears into FEMA for response to Hurricane Helene — and bashes CNN for claiming failures are misinformation

Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump ripped into the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) handling of Hurricane Helene and sparred with CNN host Dana Bash over whether her father-in-law was spewing misinformation.

Lara Trump contended Sunday that the Harris-Biden administration hasn’t been spending money wisely on recovery efforts and lamented the devastation that had been unleashed by the storm upon her native state of North Carolina.

“I hear every day from people on the ground there, and they are desperate for help. It is a dire situation there,” Lara Trump, told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.

“I actually think we don’t even know the extent yet of truly how bad it is there.”

She also hit FEMA for spending more than $1.4 billion since the fall of 2022 to tackle the migrant crisis.

The $1.4 billion figure includes $780 million from the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program and $640.9 million from the Shelter and Services Program.

Bash then countered that FEMA denied Lara Trump’s claims, stressing that the FEMA funds used for migrants came from a different tranche than the money that had been allocated for disaster relief.

“You have migrants being housed in luxury hotels in New York City. We have paid so much money from our tax dollars into a crisis that didn’t need to happen,” Lara Trump shot back.

“We could redirect money to help people immediately on the ground in North Carolina.”

Bash accused former President Donald Trump of making false or misleading claims that FEMA was offering Hurricane Helene victims $750 and that the organization was using funds for illegal immigrants.

FEMA has been providing individuals afflicted by the storm $750 as an upfront, immediate payment, but the organization has underscored that additional types of assistance will be on the way.

“Why don’t they have anything in order? Why is it that right now … the citizens in western North Carolina are screaming for help, and it’s having to come from local citizens?” Lara Trump bemoaned.

Hurricane Helene had walloped parts of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina late last month, with over 225 people confirmed dead, dozens still missing and whole towns wiped off the map.

Lara Trump also confronted on Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge the he lost the 2020 presidential election. She was adamant that Trump would concede defeat on Nov. 5 if he felt he had lost the election fair and square. 

“Of course, if he feels that this is a free and fair and transparent election, which by the way, is my number one goal at the RNC,” she said when asked if he could admit to losing.

During her tenure as co-chair of the RNC, Lara Trump has pushed for the organization to divert resources into election integrity efforts, a move that has gotten some party insiders nervous that it could take away from voter turnout.

“Our number one charge has been trying to make sure that we restore faith in our electoral process,” she said. “Assuming everything is free, fair and transparent — absolutely if Donald Trump loses this election — he has said himself — he will be happy to accept those results.”

She downplayed concerns from some GOP strategists about election integrity efforts taking away from turnout initiatives and insisted the party has a “great, robust ground game” in effect.

Her interview with CNN comes just after she joined Donald Trump during his hero’s welcome at Butler, Pa. to finish off his rally that had been interrupted by an assassination attempt against him on July 13.

“It really was a beautiful moment yesterday in Butler, and I think it was really important in terms of healing for this country,” she reflected.