May 2, 2024; Washington, D.C.: Secretary Pete Buttigieg testifies at the Senate Appropriations – Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Photo: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY
Out Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has refused to let conservative billionaire X owner Elon Musk spread lies about the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene. The hurricane has killed 230 people and could cost up to $200 billion or more to recover from.
On Friday, Musk posted a screenshot of a text conversation he allegedly had with a SpaceX engineer in which the engineer claimed the government shut down the airspace over the disaster zone and prevented private Starlink flights from delivering aid and supplies.
Related:
The text is clearly meant to demonize Democrats and glorify the Trump campaign, claiming the Trump team is trying to bring aid to hurricane victims while the Democrats block them from doing so.
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“We are pushing back with trump team as well to help us, but not looking good,” the text reads. “We need to help to get word out about FEMA, we spoke with Ivanka and handed out starlinks with her yesterday but FEMA then showed up and started blocking us.”
Along with the screenshot, Musk wrote, “The level of belligerent government incompetence is staggering!!”
Trump also reportedly shared Musk’s lies on Truth Social.
Buttigieg wasn’t having it.
He responded directly to Musk on X: “No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call.”
Musk sent a series of replies to Buttigieg claiming that there were “hundreds of reports” of blocked flights and that a helicopter was “trying to land to deliver critical supplies.” He then implied he did speak on the phone to Buttigieg, thanking him for the call. In a follow up, he said the support flights were “now underway.”
No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call.
FEMA also responded to the allegations that it was ever blocking support flights on its dedicated “Rumor Response” page.
“The FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] is not restricting access for recovery operations,” the website states. “The FAA is coordinating closely with state and local officials to make sure everyone is operating safely in very crowded and congested airspace.”
Musk’s accusations accompany many other false claims coming directly from Trump accusing Democrats of incompetence in the Helene recovery effort. Last week, for example, he claimed President Biden was “sleeping” and ignoring calls from Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R). But Kemp himself confirmed this was a lie.
“The president just called me yesterday afternoon and I missed him and called him right back and he just said ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I told him, you know, we’ve got what we need, we’ll work through the federal process,” Kemp said, according to the Associated Press. “He offered if there are other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that.”
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