Politico Obtains Proof That Trump Overruled FEMA & NOAA to Deny Disaster Aid to Democratic-led States

WASHINGTON, DC – In an alarming report, Politico has obtained proof that President Donald Trump overruled his own agencies when he denied disaster aid for four Democratic-led states this month . After examining the evidence, high-ranking officials from regional offices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) agreed that the states met the necessary thresholds for receiving federal relief due to the historic natural disasters that impacted their states. However, President Trump ignored their findings and rejected the federal request for a disaster declaration anyway -- a move that experts say has no modern precedent. The report states: “Emails between state and federal officials obtained by POLITICO along with more than 150 pages of documents submitted to FEMA by three states — New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island — provide new details about Trump’s low rate of approving disaster aid for his political adversaries. He also denied a request by New York after administration officials verified that it had met federal standards for approval, according to state officials. “Trump’s rejections came after regional offices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and NOAA determined that the states met government thresholds for receiving aid following a record-breaking snowstorm in February. “The Blizzard of 2026 certainly achieved a pinnacle ranking in the memories of those who experienced it and climatologically in the historical rankings of snowstorms,” said a NOAA report confirming Rhode Island met the requirement for disaster aid. Presidents retain sole authority over granting federal disaster aid to states, but it’s highly unusual to deny a governor’s request after FEMA field offices have verified that damage estimates exceeded preestablished levels, according to a former agency official who worked under Republican and Democratic administrations. “I can’t think of a time a declaration was denied” for a state that met FEMA and NOAA standards, said the former FEMA official who was granted anonymity to speak about internal decision making.” “The emails and documents, which haven’t previously been reported, shed new light on Trump’s decisions to reject an overwhelming number of requests for disaster aid from Democratic-led states, even as he has approved nearly 90 percent of requests from states that are governed by members of his own party. The revelations also offer a fuller picture of Trump’s tenure over the most partisan distribution of FEMA aid since the agency was created in 1979.” Today, U.S. Senator Jack Reed, a leading member of the Senate Appropriations Committee stated: “The Politico report uncovered proof that President Trump is playing politics with disaster relief. And this story is backed up by statistics that demonstrate President Trump is disproportionately denying aid to states that did not vote for him. “It’s sad that President Trump’s fragile ego and spitefulness have created this situation. And we’re going to need to build a strong, bipartisan coalition to solve it. Because look, extreme weather and natural disasters don’t care about politics or borders. This is supposed to be a merit-based process where states aid each other based upon the facts. “President Trump is once again seeking to push boundaries and abuse his authority. But Congress has the power of the purse and I will not just stand by and allow the President to bully Rhode Island and other states. I am going to work with my colleagues to address this challenge and make it right. It may take a while, but Rhode Island deserves to be made whole. The state is not seeking special treatment, just simple fairness. President Trump is acting like a petty tyrant and he holds a lot of cards. But it is in the best interest of every member of Congress to act in good faith, lest their states find themselves in a similar situation going forward. Stooping to the lowly level of this new Trump precedent would be a recipe for disaster. While occupants of the Oval Office change, America’s core values and inherent sense of fairness remains steadfast. Congress should act in the taxpayer’s interest and help states who’ve been hit by a major, record-breaking disaster.” To counter Trump’s unfair, unwarranted politicization of federal emergency management decisions, Senator Reed has already introduced the Disaster Relief Fairness Act ( S.5018 ). Reed and his colleagues in the Rhode Island Congressional delegation sent a letter to President Trump to: “demand you immediately reverse the July 2, 2026 denial of the State of Rhode Island’s request for a major disaster declaration under the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act for its historic February 2026 blizzard. After months of waiting, on the same day you approved major disaster declarations for several Republican-led states, you chose to leave Rhode Islanders out in the cold. It is unacceptable to politicize the disaster declaration process when Rhode Islanders’ health, safety, and businesses were severely impacted by this historic storm.”