Misleading: House Speaker Says White House Didn’t Call Him After Helen Attacked North Carolina

North Carolina Rep. Tim Moore says former President Donald Trump responded more quickly than President Joe Biden’s administration after Hurricane Helen devastated western North Carolina.

Helen caused record flooding in western North Carolina on Sept. 27, killing more than 100 people and displacing hundreds more. Trump, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have since visited the region to assess the damage.

During Trump’s visit to Asheville on October 21, he invited Moore to the microphone to talk about his experience.

“I haven’t received a single call from the White House, but this man and his team have been in touch with us from day one,” said Moore, the speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives. His comments were published on social media by The Blaze, a conservative media site with more than 1 million followers.

PolitiFact verified several claims about lawmakers involved in helping Helen, including Moore. When we reviewed Moore’s statement about his communications with the Biden administration, we found that the White House tried to contact Moore at least three times by phone or email, and also spoke with his staff, but Moore never responded in person.

On Sept. 30 and Oct. 4, an employee of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs sent emails to Moore’s legislative email address, White House records show.

“Hello Speaker Moore and team! Hope you’re doing well!…I’m emailing to check in on you and your constituents after Hurricane Helen,” a White House official said on Sept. 30, the third day after the storm. “If you hear from any of your caucus members seeking federal resources, please feel free to send my contact information. If I can ever do anything for you, please let me know.”

A White House staffer’s Oct. 4 email to Moore referenced an Oct. 2 phone call, the White House said.

“Thanks for talking on the phone earlier this week! Please let me know if there is anything I can do to support you all. I can be reached by phone or email,” the Oct. 4 email said.

In an Oct. 24 interview with PolitiFact, Moore said he was unaware that a White House staffer had called and emailed his office. That’s because he was traveling in western North Carolina surveying the damage and because the White House staffer was speaking to one of Moore’s staffers rather than Moore himself, a detail the White House confirmed.

“I didn’t realize I got it,” Moore said during an interview at the state legislative building. “It came to our email and our scheduler spoke briefly with whoever that employee was.”

Moore also declined to provide evidence for his claim that Trump was in contact “from day one” of the hurricane, and did not share any other details of the communication. The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

In an interview, Moore said the point of his comments was not who called him or when. The purpose, he said, was to praise Trump and members of his team for maintaining regular contact with him after Helen’s attack, and to express his disappointment over what he called the government’s slow response to hurricane victims who still needed local help.

Moore said Trump, former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley called him in the days after Helen’s attack. Gabbard visited Moore’s area and brought back generators, chainsaws and other useful supplies, he said.

Meanwhile, Moore said he was upset to hear from victims that their needs were not being met.

“We had to make a lot of extra calls that we shouldn’t have made,” Moore said. “When we were there (in the disaster area), someone grabbed me and said, ‘We haven’t heard about this from anyone,’ and wanted to know the answer.”

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s office issued an update on response and recovery efforts on Oct. 21, the same day Moore made his comments criticizing the White House response.

In a news release, Cooper’s office said crews had restored power to all but 5,000 customers in the disaster area. It said most cell service damaged by the storm had been restored and that road crews had reopened 789 of the 1,200 roads that were closed as a result of the storm.

While public schools in 28 storm-damaged areas have reopened, seven remained closed. As road access remained limited, Cooper’s office said the state and federal governments were working with volunteers and nonprofit groups to deliver water, food and medicine to some areas.

By October 21, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had paid out $129 million to people affected by Helen. More than 207,000 people have registered for individual financial assistance, and people have submitted more than 5,100 applications for Small Business Administration loans.

Cooper’s office added that rebuilding the mountainous areas “will require a unique, unified and sustained effort focused on people who have lost everything by leaving politics at the door.”

Moore said that while the White House deserves close attention because of its funding priorities, it is careful to keep politics out of the disaster response. Moore said he also wants to give credit where credit is due.

“FEMA people working in the field? These are hardworking people trying to help people here,” Moore said.

Our solution

Moore said, “I have not received a single call from the White House.”

White House records show a Biden administration official called Moore’s office at least once and emailed Moore twice, writing, “Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you all.” The White House staffer spoke to one of Moore’s staffers and not directly to Moore. Moore said he was unaware of the report.

There is some truth to this statement, but it ignores important facts that could give a different impression of the White House’s performance. We rate this as “mostly false.”