Kamala Harris’ tough words on Iran confounds critics
Vice President Kamala Harris had harsh words for Iran in an interview Monday evening as she said the regime is America’s biggest foe. In a sit-down with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” the Democratic presidential nominee was asked to name the U.S.’s greatest foreign adversary. “I think there’s an obvious one in mind, which is Iran. Iran has American blood on their hands.” “This attack on Israel, 200 ballistic missiles. What we need to do to ensure that Iran never achieves the ability to be a nuclear power. That is one of my highest priorities.” Harris declined to say whether she would take military action if given proof that Iran is building a nuclear weapon. “I’m not going to talk about hypotheticals at this moment,” she told Bill Whitaker. The suggestion that Iran was the greatest U.S. adversary raised some eyebrows — as China is thought by many to be foe No. 1. “Iran is our biggest adversary, not China?,” Mary Kissel, former adviser to ex-Sec. of State Mike Pompeo, wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. 5 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HARRIS’ ‘60 MINUTES’ INTERVIEW “Harris is completely clueless for claiming that Iran is America’s greatest adversary rather than China,” former Trump adviser Steve Cortes said. “Really? It’s not Russia? It’s not China? A middle power is America’s greatest adversary?” Iranian nuclear researcher Sina Azodi questioned. Harris also defended U.S. aid to Israel — at a time when many liberals are calling on her to halt that aid or put conditions on it amid the rising death tolls across Gaza and Lebanon. “The aid that we have given Israel allowed Israel to defend itself against 200 ballistic missiles that were just meant to attack the Israelis and the people of Israel,” she said. Harris highlighted threats from “Hamas, Hezbollah… Iran,” asserting it is “without any question our imperative to do what we can to allow Israel to defend itself against those kinds of attacks.” Still, she held out hope that Israel and its enemies could get to a ceasefire deal. “The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles, which include the need for humanitarian aid, the need for this war to end, the need for a deal to be done, which would release the hostages and create a ceasefire.” She added, “We’re not going to stop in terms of putting that pressure on Israel and in the region, including Arab leaders.” “China is the far greater threat just about, I think, everyone’s estimation,” said Rob Greenway, a former Trump aide and senior director of the National Security Council. “If you really do view Iran as a threat, then the behavior they’ve made makes absolutely no sense.” Former President Donald Trump has blamed President Joe Biden and Harris for loosening sanctions on Iran, which he said made the U.S. adversary “very rich in a very short period,” and prompted the turmoil that began with the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. During a rally last week, Trump tore into the September 2023 prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Iran that facilitated a detainee swap in Qatar and resulted in the release of $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets from oil sales. “If they have somebody who was kidnapped, it’s always $6 billion. Whoever heard of that?” Trump said. “Somebody else gets like $4,000.” Iran said it had reached a “good understanding” to access the money from a Qatari bank account on Monday. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has long claimed it has not rolled back sanctions on Iran. But “it’s not enforcing any sanctions,” according to Greenway. Iran is now bringing in nearly $36 billion per year from oil sales. Last week, Iran rained down 200 missiles toward Tel Aviv, many of them intercepted by both Israeli Defense Forces and U.S. capabilities. Though Iran’s proxies have long attacked both Israeli and U.S. postures, it was the regime’s first direct attack on Israel since April. Harris was sharply critical of Trump for pulling out of the Iran deal in 2018. President Joe Biden campaigned on returning to the deal, but failed to do so in office. “[Iran] made a tremendous amount of money. They have had doors opened by the U.S. administration,” Greenway said. HARRIS’ ‘WORD SALAD’ ON ISRAEL ALLIANCE The Trump administration’s policies “brought them to the brink of financial collapse.” After Biden rolled back sanctions on Iran, the regime went from 500 centrifuges needed to make a nuclear bomb to 7,000. It went from 5% enriched uranium to 60% (90% is needed for a nuclear weapon.) It went from exporting 400,000 barrels of oil per day in 2019 under the Trump administration’s harsh sanctions to 1.7 million barrels per day today. Reports also suggest renewed activity in two nuclear weaponization sites in Iran – Sanjarian and Golab Dareh. Last week, Biden warned Israel to make sure its response to the Iranian missile attacks was “proportional,” and urged them not to go after Iranian nuclear facilities. Trump on Friday said Israel should go after the nuclear facilities. While speaking at a campaign event in Fayetteville, North Carolina, he said when Biden was asked about Israel attacking Iran, the president answered, “’As long as they don’t hit the nuclear stuff.’ That’s the thing you wanna hit, right? I said, ‘I think he’s got that one wrong. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to hit?’” He added nuclear proliferation is the “biggest risk we have.” Trump said when Biden was asked about Israel and Iran: “His answer should have been: ‘Hit the nuclear first. Worry about the rest later.’”
New poll shows Harris taking a slim lead over Trump thanks to support from a surprising group
Increased support from Republicans appears to be one factor fueling Vice President Kamala Harris with four weeks to go until Election Day in her White House showdown with former President Trump, according to a new national poll. The vice president and Democratic presidential nominee stands at 49% support among likely voters nationwide, with the former president and GOP nominee at 46%, in a New York Times/Siena College survey released on Tuesday. According to the poll, Harris stands at 47% and Trump at 44% in a multi-candidate field. Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Chase Oliver each grabbed 1%, with roughly 7% supporting another candidate or undecided. Harris’ edge – which is within the survey’s sampling error – is up from the New York Times/Siena poll from last month, when the two major party nominees were deadlocked at 47%. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW The top-line number in the new poll is in the range of most other national surveys, which indicate the vice president with a slight edge over Trump. The poll indicates Harris’ support among Republican voters stands at 9%, up four points from last month. CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION As she turns up the volume on her efforts to court Republicans disgruntled with Trump, Harris last week teamed up with the most visible anti-Trump Republican in the town that claims to be the birthplace of the GOP. Harris campaigned in battleground Wisconsin with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and a one-time rising conservative star in the GOP who, in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol, has vowed to do everything she can to prevent Trump from returning to power. “I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney told the audience as she formally endorsed the Democrat presidential nominee. “As a conservative, as a patriot, as a mother, as someone who reveres our Constitution, I am honored to join her in this urgent cause.” Harris praised Cheney as a leader who “puts country above party and above self, a true patriot.” The campaign event took place in Ripon, Wisconsin, where a one-room schoolhouse was designated a national historic landmark due to its role in holding a series of meetings in 1854 that led to the formation of the Republican Party. The new poll also indicated Harris consolidating her support among older voters, and for the first time taking a slight edge over Trump in being identified as the candidate of change. That’s crucial in a race where voters have repeatedly shared with pollsters that they think the country’s headed in the wrong direction. And the Trump campaign, feeding off such polling data, has repeatedly tied Harris to President Biden and their administration in the nearly three months since she replaced her boss at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket. The poll was conducted Sept. 29-Oct. 6, with 3,385 likely voters nationwide questioned. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Elon Musk steps into Texas legislative races with $1 million donation to business group
Musk has recently emerged as a key backer of GOP nominee Donald Trump, whose top allies in Texas are at war with the group that received Musk’s largesse.
North Carolina residents will see changes to early voting after Hurricane Helene
North Carolina election officials are adjusting their voting rules to ensure residents in areas impacted by the recent hurricane damage can vote early in the upcoming election. Hurricane Helene made a damaging sweep across the southeast, covering swing states that had already started early voting. But the storm caused severe damage to several predominantly red counties and early voting centers as focus shifted to disaster relief. On Monday, the North Carolina Elections Board passed a bipartisan emergency resolution that reformed the state’s early voting process in 13 counties. Notably, all except one, Buncombe, voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020. NORTH CAROLINA GOP FOCUSING ON ‘HAND-TO-HAND POLITICAL COMBAT’ TO RAMP UP GROUND GAME IN BATTLEGROUND STATE The adjustments include changing or adding voting sites and maintaining their availability, extending the hours when a voting site is open, and adding or reducing days that any site is open within the early voting period, according to the election board. Voters in these counties will also have more time to request an absentee ballot, with the deadline being Nov. 4. RESIDENTS IN KEY NORTH CAROLINA DISTRICT REVEAL HOW THEY THINK THEIR COUNTY WILL VOTE IN NOVEMBER The state’s elections board identified 13 counties in western North Carolina as the most impacted by the hurricane. The counties that will see the changes applied to their early voting processes include: Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancey. Voters in these counties will now have the option of turning in absentee ballots to another county’s election board, rather than following previous protocol that mandated they only submit their ballots to their local counties. Trump narrowly won North Carolina in 2020 by roughly 1.4 percentage points, and early voting has since been made a focus of Republican ground game efforts this cycle, the state’s GOP told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. The former president, however, told Fox News that he believes despite the storm’s impact, voters will still turn out for the election. “I believe they’re going to go out and vote if they have to crawl to a voting booth,” Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in an interview that aired Monday. “And that’s what’s happening.” The former president added that his daughter-in-law, who co-chairs the Republican National Committee (RNC), is working on helping North Carolinians in impacted areas cast their votes. “Lara is working on it. Other people are working on it, and we’re trying to make it convenient for them, but they just lost their house,” Trump said. In-person early voting in the Old North State begins Thursday, Oct. 17 and ends on Saturday, Nov. 2.
New poll reveals which voter group are fueling Trump to a narrow edge over Harris in battleground
Former President Donald Trump holds a razor-thin two-point edge over Vice President Kamala Harris in battleground Arizona, according to a new public opinion poll. Fueling the former president’s margin appears to be support from voters age 50 and over. Trump stands at 49% among likely voters in Arizona, with Harris at 47%, according to an AARP poll conducted Sept. 24-Oct. 1 and released on Tuesday. According to the survey, Green Party candidate Jill Stein grabs 1% support, with 3% undecided. The survey points to a generational divide. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW “Among voters 50+, Trump is ahead by 7 points, driven by a 14-point lead among voters 50-64,” the poll’s release highlights. Harris holds a 4-point advantage among voters under 50, according to the survey, “while the race is a tossup with seniors.” CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION The poll also points to a gender gap in Arizona which favors Trump. The former president and Republican nominee is up 11-points over the vice president and Democratic nominee among men, but down only 6 points among female voters, the survey indicates. The survey is the latest to indicate a margin of error race between Harris and Trump in Arizona, a state President Biden narrowly carried over Trump in the 2020 election. Arizona’s one of seven crucial battlegrounds whose razor-thin margins decided Biden’s White House victory four years ago and are likely to determine if Harris or Trump win the 2024 election. NEW POLL INDICATES WHETHER HARRIS OR TRUMP IS WINNING KEY VOTERS IN TWO CRUCIAL SOUTHWEST BATTLEGROUNDS The survey was released on the eve of the kick-off of early in-person voting in Arizona. The major party vice presidential nominees – Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota – each hold campaign events in Arizona on Wednesday. Harris returns to the state on Friday. Besides being a crucial presidential swing state, Arizona is also holding one of a handful of competitive Senate elections that will decide if the GOP wins back the chamber’s majority. The AARP poll indicates Democratic Senate nominee Rep. Rueben Gallego holding a 51%-44% lead over Republican nominee Kari Lake, a former news anchor who narrowly lost the state’s 2022 gubernatorial election. The AARP poll was conducted by the bipartisan polling team of Fabrizio Ward (Republican) & Impact Research (Democrat). The firms interviewed 1,358 likely voters in Arizona. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Uvalde city officials release missing footage from officers responding to 2022 Robb Elementary shooting
The videos were supposed to be released in August as part of a legal settlement with news agencies. City leaders have said they were not intentionally withheld.
Texas AG demands Biden-Harris admin help verify citizenship of nearly 500K registered voters
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has written to the Biden-Harris administration urging it to provide data that would help identify up to half a million people who could be erroneously registered to vote in the state but not be a citizen. Paxton, a Republican, said that the Biden-Harris administration has “legal obligations” to hand over such information so that the Lone Star state can help determine the citizenship status of certain registered voters who do not have a state of Texas-issued driver’s license or identification card since those are only issued after citizen checks. Non-U.S. citizens lawfully present cannot legally vote but can lawfully apply for and receive a driver’s license or ID card. Paxton said he is investigating those registered voters so Texas can be in compliance with federal and state election laws which prohibit non-U.S. citizens from voting. He penned his letter Monday to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Ur Jaddou. ARIZONA LAW REQUIRING PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP TO VOTE SUPPORTED BY 24 STATE AGS IN EMERGENCY STAY WITH SCOTUS “I demand full cooperation from the federal government to ensure that any noncitizens remaining on Texas’s voter registration rolls are identified,” Paxton said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris Administration is legally obligated to assist States in doing so, and it is imperative that we use every tool available to uphold the integrity of our elections.” Paxton said that while it is a crime for noncitizens to register to vote, federal law paradoxically creates opportunities for non-citizens to illegally register to vote while also prohibiting states from requiring voters to have proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. He said it is particularly troubling given the current scale of the illegal immigration and that the Senate has not passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (“SAVE Act”), which would allow states to ensure that votes are being cast legally by eligible voters. He said that requiring proof of citizenship is a commonsense measure that helps identify illegal registration. Paxton has obtained a list of approximately 454,289 Texas registered voters who have never had their citizenship verified. The list is derived from the Texas Secretary of State’s (SOS) computerized list of voters the office is required to maintain. THOUSANDS OF NONCITIZENS REMOVED FROM VOTER ROLLS, DOZENS OF LAWMAKERS WANT ANSWERS FROM GARLAND “Although I have no doubt the vast majority of the voters on the list are citizens who are eligible to vote, I am equally certain that Texans have no way of knowing whether or not any of the voters on the list are noncitizens who are ineligible to vote,” Paxton wrote in the letter. “Indeed, a recent SOS audit verified that over 1,300 noncitizens were registered to vote in the four randomly chosen counties that were subject to an election audit—and that is just what was verifiable. That is 1,300 too many when so many of our federal, state, and local election are decided by a handful of votes.” Paxton has been trying to crack down hard on non-citizens voting. In August, his office’s Election Integrity unit executed searches in three South Texas counties as part of his ongoing probe to investigate fraud and ballot harvesting allegations. In the same month, Gov. Greg Abbott announced 6,500 potential noncitizens had been removed from the voter rolls since 2021. Approximately 1,930 had a voter history. Republicans have raised concerns about voter integrity issued and non-citizens being registered to vote ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Officials in Oregon announced Monday that they have identified an additional 302 people on the state’s voter rolls who didn’t provide proof of citizenship when they were registered to vote. The announcement comes just two weeks after officials in the Beaver State said 1,259 possible noncitizens have been registered to vote since 2021, bringing the total number of mistaken registrations to 1,561. Last month, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that nearly 98,000 people whose U.S. citizenship has not been confirmed will be allowed to vote in the upcoming state and local elections.
SEE IT: Wisconsin dairy farmer says ‘no question’ Trump admin was ‘much better’ than Biden-Harris
WAUKESHA, Wisconsin – At Cozy Nook Farm, they cover three areas: Cows, pumpkins, and Christmas trees. “We’re diversified here,” laughed dairy farmer Tom Oberhaus in an interview with Fox News Digital. He explained that he and his wife are conservative Republicans who have been sure of who they were supporting in the 2024 election for a long time. “There’s no question in our mind that our four years under Trump management was much better than the three and a half years under Biden management – or whoever is, you know, that’s the great mystery is, who is actually running the government right now?” he asked. WISCONSIN SENATE RACE SHIFTS TO ‘TOSS UP’ BY HANDICAPPER AS TAMMY BALDWIN FIGHTS FOR RE-ELECTION They previously voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. One issue he has with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat presidential nominee, is that she vouched for President Biden’s cognitive ability. “It bothers the heck out of me that we’re thinking about electing a person that just six weeks ago… told us ‘Oh, Biden’s on top of it. He’s really aggressive and really knows what he’s doing,’” Oberhaus said. “We all seen that in the debate, you know, he’s past his time,” he said of Biden’s June debate with former President Trump that preceded his campaign suspension. TRUMP, REPUBLICANS VENTURE TO BLUE AREAS IN WISCONSIN TO BOOST GOP TURNOUT Critics have claimed Trump is bad for farmers, pointing to his fondness for tariffs and his past trade conflict with China. But Oberhaus said the tariffs, which ramped up in 2018, “certainly didn’t hurt us.” “We’re much better off with tariffs than having that government printing press printing out money,” he added. At Cozy Nook Farm, Oberhaus said their biggest struggle has been inflation. “We’ve been [eaten] alive by inflation,” he claimed. He explained that they do not set their own prices, and they tend to “run a couple of years behind everybody else.” They’re now paying “twice as much for tires and fuel and feed and everything else.” However, “our milk price stays the same, until just now in the last month that it finally came up.” VULNERABLE DEM JON TESTER TURNS ON BIDEN ADMIN OVER DEI AFTER MONTANA UNIVERSITIES STRIPPED OF FEDERAL FUNDS He also stressed illegal immigration as a top issue for him, even hundreds of miles from the southern border. But the problem is surfacing even as far north as Wisconsin, he explained. “Little town of Whitewater 35 minutes away,” he said. “It’s a town of, what, 15,000 people? And then they got a thousand new immigrants.” Local Wisconsin outlets reported that last year Whitewater Police Chief Daniel Meyer and City Manager John Weidl penned a letter to Biden, asking for help after the “rapid increase” of about 800 to 1,000 immigrants since 2022. “As a municipal government, our focus is not on legal status, but rather ensuring we are providing the resources expected of a municipality to all residents of the City. Unfortunately, we are increasingly finding it difficult to do that,” the letter reportedly read. HERE’S WHAT 2 UNDECIDED WISCONSIN VOTERS ARE HOLDING OUT FOR IN 2024 ELECTION “How do you handle that?” asked Oberhaus. As for those who argue that with strict immigration enforcement there would result in fewer people to work on farms, he called it “baloney.” “We got plenty of people to do the farm work,” he said. On Trump, who recently ventured into Wisconsin’s biggest Democratic enclaves in Dane and Milwaukee counties, the farmer said, “I think that’s the sign of a leader – that you’re not afraid to go into the other camp and tell them what your ideas are.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Biden cancels overseas trip as Milton bears down on Florida; DeSantis tells VP ‘it’s not about you Kamala’
With a second powerful hurricane in less than two weeks bearing down on Florida, President Biden on Tuesday canceled an upcoming international trip in order to oversee federal storm preparations and response efforts. As the death toll rises and nearly 200,000 people remain without power or running water over a week and a half after Hurricane Helen tore a path of destruction through the southeast United States, Hurricane Milton – an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm – is on course to slam into Florida on Wednesday. “Given the projected trajectory and strength of Hurricane Milton, President Biden is postponing his upcoming trip to Germany and Angola in order to oversee preparations for and the response to Hurricane Milton, in addition to the ongoing response to the impacts of Hurricane Helene across the Southeast,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Tuesday. The president was scheduled to leave for Berlin on Thursday, followed by a stop in Angola before returning home on Oct. 15. The trip would have marked Biden’s first stop on the African continent during his tenure as president. EYE OF THE STORM: BACK-TO-BACK HURRICANES IMPACT HARRIS-TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL RACE Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, the president called Milton a potentially “devastating” storm that could be one of the worst to hit Florida in a century. He also urged anyone under an evacuation order to “evacuate now, now, now.” “It’s a matter of life and death,” Bien emphasized. Biden also said he spoke on Monday with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, adding that the conservative governor had been cooperative and that he gave his personal phone number to DeSantis. CLICK HERE FOR UP-TO-DATE FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE STORMS When asked about the federal storm response, DeSantis said during a news conference on Monday that “we have gotten what we need from the feds… the president has approved what we asked for… I’m thankful for that.” “Everything we’ve asked for from President Biden, he’s approved,” DeSantis highlighted. The governor reiterated those comments Tuesday morning in an interview on “Fox and Friends.” “Every request that we’ve made – I’ve been in contact with the president, I’ve been in contact with the FEMA director,” DeSantis highlighted. “All of our requests have been answered.” While DeSantis has complimented the president’s actions, he has taken aim at Vice President Kamala Harris. The Democrats’ presidential nominee on Monday – reacting to reports that the governor had refused to take her calls regarding federal storm efforts – described him as “selfish.” When asked about the dispute, DeSantis argued in his “Fox and Friends” interview that “my focus has not been on dealing with Kamala Harris. I saw the news report. I didn’t know that she tried to contact me. But I’d also say it’s not about you, Kamala. It’s about the people of Florida. My focus is exactly where it should be.” “I’ve worked on these Hurricanes under both President Trump and President Biden. Neither of them ever tried to politicize it. She’s never called on any of the storms we’ve had since she’s been vice president until apparently now. Why all of a sudden is she trying to parachute in and inject herself when she’s never shown any interest in the past? We know it’s because of politics. We know it’s because of her campaign. I have zero time to entertain these political games,” DeSantis charged. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS WEATHER UPDATES ON HURRICANE MILTON The war of words appeared to be triggered by reports from NBC and later ABC News on Monday afternoon that the Florida governor was not taking calls from Harris regarding storm recovery efforts, citing unnamed aides to the governor who said the calls seemed political in nature. When asked a couple of hours later, DeSantis said he was not aware Harris was trying to reach him. “I didn’t know that she had called. I’m not sure who they called. They didn’t call me,” he said. “It wasn’t anything that anybody in my office did, in terms of saying it was political.” Speaking around the same time, as she departed the nation’s capital for New York, the vice president took aim at DeSantis. “People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games at this moment in these crisis situations…is just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish,” Harris charged. “It is about political gamesmanship, instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.” However, DeSantis, pushing back in his Fox News interview, argued that “Harris is not even in the chain of command. She has no role in this. The idea that I should be…worrying about her when I’m focused on the task at hand is quite frankly absurd.” When asked if his vice president has been helpful as the federal government deals with back-to-back dangerous hurricanes, Biden nodded and told reporters “yes.” Harris, speaking on Tuesday on the popular daytime program “The View,” said “I have called and talked with, in the course of this crisis, this most recent crisis, with Democrat and Republican governors…. So, obviously, this is not an issue that is about partisanship or politics for certain leaders, but maybe it’s for others.” With four weeks to go until Election Day in November and Harris and former President Donald Trump locked in a bitter margin-of-error showdown in the race to succeed Biden in the White House, and with two of the hardest-hit states from Helene — North Carolina and Georgia — among the seven key battlegrounds that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 election – the politics of federal disaster relief are once again front and center on the campaign trail. Trump, for a week and a half, has been repeatedly attacking Biden and Harris over the federal response to Hurricane Helene, and making unproven claims. On Monday, Harris clapped back, accusing Trump of pushing “a lot of mis and disinformation.” Fox News’ Nick Rojas contributed
Mayorkas rips ‘politicized’ atmosphere over FEMA disaster response amid GOP criticism: ‘It sows distrust’
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has been a political lightning rod for controversy during the Biden-Harris administration, on Monday pushed back against what he claimed was “intentionally false information” about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) work. “I have not seen it ever before at this level,” he said on MSNBC, speaking to host Jen Psaki. “You and I both remember a time when an extreme weather event, a natural disaster, actually brought people together. Now, unfortunately, tragically, quite frankly, it is politicized.” Both DHS and FEMA have been under fire over their response to Hurricane Helene, with claims that it has diverted resources to illegal immigrants, has been delayed in its response, and is out of money. SPEAKER JOHNSON RIPS ‘LACK OF LEADERSHIP’ IN BIDEN ADMIN’S HELENE RESPONSE: ‘ALARMED AND DISAPPOINTED’ Much of the controversy was triggered last week when Mayorkas said FEMA “does not have the funds to make it through the season.” He went on to say that the agency has the money for “immediate needs” but is concerned about not having a stable supply of funding. Congress recently freed up $20 billion for the disaster fund, but officials have called on Congress to pass a supplemental spending bill. Critics quickly pointed to FEMA’s role in distributing more than $650 million in funds to help illegal immigrants as part of its Shelter and Services Program (SSP). Former President Trump recently accused the Biden administration of stealing FEMA money “for their illegal immigrants.” However, the Biden administration has noted that that funding, which comes from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and is congressionally appropriated for grants to local governments and nonprofits, is entirely separate from the significantly larger Disaster Relief Fund. “No money is being diverted from disaster response needs. FEMA’s disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts. Disaster Relief Fund money has not been diverted to other, non-disaster related efforts,” FEMA said in a release this week. HURRICANE HELENE: NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENTS FIGHT FOR THEIR SURVIVAL AS BASIC GOODS BECOME SCARCE It has still faced questions from some Republican senators about whether its “entanglement” in the border crisis has affected its operational readiness. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., meanwhile, told Fox News Digital last week that the administration has “failed in that response.” “They are scrambling to cover their egregious errors and mistakes. And there’s an effort to blame others or blame circumstances when this is just purely a lack of leadership and response,” the speaker said. FEMA also faced backlash last week after its unearthed emergency management “equity” blueprint went viral. The number one goal listed in the Biden-Harris agency’s priorities is to “instill equity as a foundation of emergency management.” According to FEMA’s plan, “Diversity, equity, and inclusion cannot be optional.” This week, FEMA has been pushing back against claims that FEMA grants have to be repaid, that it is restricting airspace for rescue and recovery operations, and that it is distributing aid based on demographic characteristics. It has published a fact sheet to check some of those claims. Mayorkas, who was impeached by the Republican-led House this year, on Monday again stressed that there is help available for those who need it, and warned of the effects of misinformation. TRUMP TARGETS BIDEN, HARRIS OVER FEDERAL RESPONSE TO HURRICANE: ‘INCOMPETENTLY MANAGED’ “What happens is the people who are victimized by the natural disaster are the ones who will suffer,” he said. “It sows distrust in their government, and therefore they don’t seek the help that they truly need.” “We have funds to put in their pockets to be able to help them address immediate needs. These individuals are not seeking that relief because of the disinformation, the intentionally false information they are receiving.” He also said the misinformation hurts the workforce. “These are individuals who are putting their lives on the line to search and rescue for victims of Hurricane Helene, a hurricane of historic magnitude,” he said. “It is very sad.” Critics have pointed to his handling of the historic crisis at the southern border, including his fueling of a since-debunked controversy about Border Patrol agents on horseback allegedly mistreating Haitian migrants, when judging his record. Fox News’ Liz Elkind contributed to this report.