As Trump pushes false FEMA claims, officials warn of 'extremely damaging' impacts

Misinformation spread during Hurricane Helene's recovery efforts is "extremely damaging," a top Federal Emergency Management Agency official said Monday.

"This type of misinformation is just, it's damaging to the overall efforts," Keith Turi, FEMA's acting director for response and recovery told ABC News Live anchor Kyra Phillips. Turi added that conspiracy theories are "stopping people from registering for assistance with FEMA, for coming to FEMA for help."

At the White House on Monday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre decried people who are putting out false information.

"Unfortunately, scam artists and bad faith actors and others who are putting politics over people are promoting misinformation about our efforts, including falsehoods about federal assistance," she said. "This is wrong and dangerous and must stop immediately. Elected officials at every level and on both side of the aisle have also called for an end to these conspiracy theories. False information following a disaster can discourage people from seeking critical assistance when they need it the most."

White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt and Director of Digital Strategy Christian Tom wrote in the memo that the White House has deployed a "robust, intensive, and whole-of-government" response to the storm and looked to counter some of the misinformation. The officials warned that false information could "discourage people from seeking critical assistance" and they want to encourage impacted Americans to seek FEMA assistance.

One of the falsehoods they took issue with is one that former President Donald Trump has pushed repeatedly on the campaign trail since Helene slammed into Florida's Gulf Coast and dumped up to 30 inches of rain in some parts of the Southeast. Trump claimed that disaster funds were being used on immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally rather than Americans impacted by disasters.

"No money is being diverted from disaster response needs. None. FEMA’s disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts," the memo said in response to those claims.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump's opponent in the presidential race, encouraged those in disaster areas to take advantage of relief and called Trump out on Monday for his falsehoods.

"There’s a lot of mis- and disinformation being pushed out there by the former president about what is available, in particular to the survivors of Helene. And first of all, it’s extraordinarily irresponsible," she said. "It’s about him, it’s not about you. And the reality is that FEMA has so many resources that are available for folks who desperately need them now and resources that are about helping people get back on their feet and rebuild and have places to go. You are entitled to these resources."

FEMA has also launched a rapid response page to combat disinformation.

Intelligence officials on a call with reporters said they were "watching very closely" any foreign effort to spread mis- or disinformation with regard to the hurricane response.

Misinformation during natural disasters and other major events is not a new phenomenon, but can serve as a “gigantic distraction,” a former Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator told ABC News on Monday.

Peter Gaynor, who served as FEMA administrator during the Trump administration, said the agency is currently working hard to help people in areas that were hit hard by Helene.

Gaynor also worked for Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo when she was governor of Rhode Island and at the city level in Providence, Rhode Island.

“The entire federal government is working hard to resolve a myriad of problems that are daunting for the citizens of North Carolina and Georgia,” Gaynor said.

Gaynor, who also ran the White House’s COVID task force, said it had to deal with misinformation on a daily basis.

“Misinformation is a gigantic distraction, and I think it's amplified by the election,” he explained. "I think the election in 30 days or so is not helping. I think people are just looking for an advantage over their competitor, whether you're a Republican trying to get advantage on a Democrat, or vice versa. The person in the middle or the agency in the middle, the people in the middle, in this case, is FEMA and our partners, and it's such an unfair thing to do.”

During disasters, FEMA works in front of and behind the scenes to get things done, Gaynor said. For example, during Hurricane Dorian in 2019, FEMA had 2,500 tractor trailer trucks coming from everywhere in the country to South Florida.

“You're not going to see FEMA trucks on the road, you will just see our private sector partners hauling our stuff, and then behind the scenes, the team is sending incident management teams to support local and state emergency managers with extra help. Again, you're not going to see those teams flying banners or driving trucks that stay FEMA, but we're there.”

As the disaster unfolds, Gaynor said FEMA works to assess the damage and get the resources they need to help local and state officials respond, and assign “mission assignments” to different parts of the government to help with the response. He said during his time at the local, state and federal levels, no decision was driven by politics.

“I would say it's not happening today,” he said of the current disaster efforts.

“I don't ask you for your ID. I don't ask you how you voted. I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican, or you just got into this country yesterday. I don't care,” he said. “My job is to deliver you disaster relief, and that, as simple as that, when you start trying to separate disaster survivors into political groups, this thing completely fails.”

FEMA employees aren’t faceless federal government bureaucrats, he said, but are members of the community that are trying to help.

“They're not doing anything to make your matter worse,” he said. “They're dedicated to make your situation better.”

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, ABC News' "Good Morning America" is providing five days of special coverage titled "Southeast Strong: Help After Helene" (#SoutheastStrongABC), spotlighting communities across the Southeast impacted by Hurricane Helene and the urgent efforts to help them recover.