'Quite a statement': CNN host stunned by Trump 'trauma' inflicted on key agency
CNN's Kate Bolduan was stunned by the level of dysfunction the Trump administration has injected into the nation's foremost disaster relief agency.
Current and former officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency told CNN that communication and coordination between the White House and agency leaders has broken down to the point that one longtime agency leader resigned in frustration.
"Let me take you back to April, when president [Donald] Trump approved this disaster declaration, millions of dollars in funding for the state of Virginia, which was reeling from winter flooding," said CNN correspondent Gabe Cohen. "Virginia's Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, gets a call from the White House, puts out a press release. Local news outlets are reporting that funds are coming to the state, but FEMA, the agency that that actually delivers that critical money, had not been told and, in fact, they learned the news from those news stories. They didn't get official word from the White House about that disaster declaration for more than four days, which meant the money that was supposed to go out the door to those hard-hit communities was delayed."
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"Then in May, a similar situation – president Trump approves disaster funds for Arkansas for severe tornadoes after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders had lobbied him for help," Cohen added. "Again, FEMA did not find out for five days, delaying the process to get money out the door, and several current and former FEMA officials are telling me that that is very odd, that usually FEMA is this integral partner in that process, who knows, within a few hours, that funding has been approved."
Officials get the sense the administration is actively working against FEMA's mission while trying to turn the public against the disaster relief agency.
"One of those officials told me: 'A five-day lag is unheard of, as it prevents FEMA from fulfilling its statutory roles,'" Cohen said, quoting a current official. "'It feels like a way to make it look like FEMA is being slow when we are not yet authorized to act.'"
The fractured relationship between the Trump administration and FEMA was particularly alarming given that hurricane season has just gotten underway, Cohen said, and he read a statement from a veteran official who excoriated the administration's leadership as actively harmful to the agency's mission on her way out the door.
"It is just one piece of the panic that we are hearing from folks inside FEMA, who are saying that the agency right now really is not properly prepared for a severe storm season, given all the turmoil that they have faced," Cohen said, "and to give you a sense of that turmoil, well, we've now obtained this email from FEMA's former second in command, a longtime, well-respected leader at the agency who resigned last month, sent a note to her team, and in it, she said, 'Everyone has a line and I have reached mine. I will not be complicit in the dismantling of this agency, and while I would readily implement change, even radical change, the current approach lacks a clear end state or plan and has been done recklessly without regard to our current statutory or moral obligations to the American people. I also will not be part of the intentional traumatization of our workforce.'"
"She is just one part of the mass exodus of key leaders that we have seen at FEMA in recent months," Cohen added, "and for those who are still left, there is this extremely tall task ahead because we could see a lot of catastrophic storms in the coming months."
Bolduan was astounded by the former official's goodbye message to her team.
"That is quite a statement from that now former official, Gabe," Bolduan said. "Great reporting, thank you for bringing it to us."
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