Trump’s False Claims of ‘No Help’ or Helicopters Sent for Helene Victims

Este artículo estará disponible en español en El Tiempo Latino. In his continued attack on the federal response to Hurricane Helene, former President Donald Trump falsely said that no helicopters and no help were sent to the affected areas for days, blaming Vice President Kamala Harris. There’s plenty of evidence that helicopters have been used and that federal, state and local disaster recovery teams have responded to help victims of the storm. On Sept. 29, for example, the Army National Guard said that thousands of Guard members had rescued hundreds of people, including with helicopters, and cleared roads in the several states impacted by the hurricane. Trump, who is making hurricane response misinformation part of his pitch to voters in the last weeks of the presidential campaign, said at an Oct. 9 rally in Reading, Pennsylvania: “While families desperately tried to escape the rising floodwaters and they climbed onto roofs, they did anything they can to live, but Kamala didn’t send any helicopters to rescue them. And when people sent helicopters, they turned them back. … . So she didn’t send anything or anyone at all. Days passed, no help, as men, women and children drowned.” It was a more...