'There's no evidence': Reporter debunks Trump's latest claim of helping disaster victims
Donald Trump recently claimed to have helped hurricane victims, but there's "no evidence" to support he did any such thing, one reporter found on Saturday.
S.V. Date, a senior White House correspondent at HuffPost, said over the weekend that the former president "said he brought supplies to storm-ravaged Georgia."
But all Trump really brought were "dozens of local police officers for security, diverting them from storm cleanup," according to the report.
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"While Donald Trump took credit for bringing truckloads of supplies to hurricane-ravaged Georgia last month, it appears that the only thing he brought to Valdosta that day was traffic and a first-responder diversion from the relief effort," the reporter wrote.
Date quoted Trump and his campaign, which said the ex-president brought "truckloads of different items, from oil to water to all sorts of equipment that’s going to help."
The reporter found that wasn't true.
"In reality, those trucks were brought by Samaritan’s Purse, a charity run by the pastor Franklin Graham. They were already there by the time Trump flew to the local airport and then rode into town in his Secret Service motorcade, according to residents," Date wrote. "That motorcade and the increased security needed at Trump’s photo opportunity required 42 officers from the Georgia State Patrol, according to documents from that agency obtained by HuffPost."
Date continued:
"A smaller number of Valdosta police officers and deputies from the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office also provided traffic control at the town’s intersections during Trump’s visit, said Mayor Scott James Matheson. He acknowledged that those officers could not continue with relief and cleanup efforts while they were detailed to Trump’s visit."
The report noted that President Joe Biden not wanting to interfere with clean-up efforts "was the reason President Joe Biden cited for waiting to visit until roads were open and immediate needs taken care of."
Trump has a history of accusations that he hasn't been helpful in similar disaster responses dating back to his presidency.