Tim Moore claims White House never called about Helene response. But it did

North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore said during a Monday news conference President Joe Biden hasn’t called him since Helene devastated parts of the state. But records show communication between his office and the White House.

Moore appeared alongside former President Donald Trump in Swannanoa on Monday, the Republican presidential candidate’s first visit to the hard-hit region of North Carolina since Helene made landfall in late September.

“As the speaker of the state House, I’ve not gotten a single call from the White House, but this man and his team have been in touch with us from day one,” Moore said about Trump.

But White House correspondence obtained by The Charlotte Observer shows Moore’s office received two emails on Sept. 30 from a White House staff member offering assistance. A third email from the same White House advisor dated Oct. 4 references a phone call with Moore’s office.

“Thanks for chatting on the phone earlier this week! Please let me know if there is anything I can do to support you all. I’m available by phone or email,” the White House staffer wrote.

Moore also received invitations to attend two White House briefings on the federal response to Helene via Zoom, according to correspondence obtained by the Observer.

Moore spokeswoman Demi Dowdy told the Observer Moore “was clearly referring to the fact that neither President Biden nor (Vice President) Harris have reached out to him, not a staffer no one in his district has ever heard of.”

“He was drawing a contrast between the calls he has personally received from former President Trump and his team since Day 1 and a couple of emails to our office from a White House staffer, who called and reached our office scheduler once,” she said in a statement. “I only wish the White House’s hurricane response was as rapid as the liberal media’s defense of their communication with our office.”

Trump was critical of the federal response in North Carolina during his visit to the Asheville area on Monday, repeating claims that FEMA spent “hundreds of millions” on things it wasn’t supposed to, including undocumented immigrants. FEMA says it has not diverted disaster relief money to people living in the country without authorization.

Biden visited North Carolina’s Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh in the days after Helene hit and took an aerial tour of Western North Carolina. Harris, Trump’s Democratic opponent in the presidential election, visited Charlotte after the storm to get a FEMA briefing alongside state and local officials and meet with volunteers preparing care packages for people displaced by the storm.

Trump said Monday he wanted to visit Western North Carolina sooner but held off his visit to avoid interfering with relief efforts.

“I’m with you, and the American people will continue to be with you all the way,” he said.

This story was originally published October 22, 2024 at 4:05 PM.

Mary Ramsey

The Charlotte Observer

Mary Ramsey is the local government accountability reporter for The Charlotte Observer. A native of the Carolinas, she studied journalism at the University of South Carolina and has also worked in Phoenix, Arizona and Louisville, Kentucky. Support my work with a digital subscription