Trump says people in North Carolina should not vote for a Democrat because of hurricane response

 Former President Donald Trump on Saturday said people in the battleground state of North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene shouldn’t vote for a Democrat in November as he falsely claimed the Biden administration “held back aid.”

“They got hit with a very bad hurricane, especially North Carolina and parts of Georgia, but North Carolina really got hit. I’ll tell you what, those people should never vote for a Democrat because they held back aid. They were so bad,” Trump said in an interview with Newsmax.

“If I were from North Carolina, you should not vote for the Democrat because what they did is disgusting, I think,” Trump said.

Some background: Trump has been escalating his lies about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, claiming in recent campaign speeches that Vice President Kamala Harris “stole” money from FEMA and “didn’t send anything or anyone at all” to areas affected.