Republican CNN anchors spar with Trump for pushing ‘lots of lies’ on hurricane response

CNN anchor Abby Phillip on Friday confirmed that former California Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado dismissed Donald Trump’s “patently false claims” about the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helen.

Philip pointed to a clip of the Republican candidate at a campaign event this week falsely claiming there is “no help” because the federal government is spending money on immigrants instead of providing relief to people affected by the deadly storms.

“They stole FEMA money like they stole money from a bank,” the former president claimed Thursday at a rally in Saginaw, Michigan.

“They’re missing out on a billion dollars that they gave to immigrants coming into our country,” he told a crowd in Fayetteville, North Carolina, last Friday.

Phillip gave a blunt review of the clip.

“None of that is true, if you can believe it,” she said. “That was a lot of lies in a matter of seconds.”

Maldonado, who was once mentioned for a role in the Trump administration and served as California’s lieutenant governor under Arnold Schwarzenegger, insisted he does not see Trump “politicizing this storm.”

“He’s showing that he’s a leader,” Maldonado said.

“But he claims he is withholding support because Biden is presumed to be a Republican, which is patently false,” Philip responded.

Some Republican officials in hurricane-affected areas dismissed claims that the federal response was inadequate or warned people to “Put aside the hate and ask for help..”

Maldonado explained that in response to Philip, Trump “raised the flag high” to say that states affected by the hurricane “need a lot of help.”

“One thing you can’t accuse Abby of of not being a leader is that in a storm like this, Abby is not a leader,” Maldonado said.

“What I’m saying is, Lieutenant Governor, with all due respect, he’s lying. “He is lying.” Philip intervened.

“I don’t think he’s inconsistent with the facts,” Maldonado said.