Trump foreign aid pause not contingent on domestic hurricane, fire recovery | Fact check
The claim: Trump paused foreign aid ‘until Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and California citizens are taken care of’
A Jan. 23 Facebook post (direct link, archived link) claims President Donald Trump halted all foreign aid payments until action is taken in several states recently affected by natural disasters.
The post includes an image of trailers and tents in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
“Trump signed a 90 day pause on all foreign aid until Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and California citizens are taken care of,” read the text above photo, shared by “Happy Days” actor Scott Baio. “It’s amazing how easy it is to help America first! And it’s wonderful to see my money used to do it!”
The post was shared more than 8,000 times in five days, and the claim also circulated on Threads, Instagram and X.
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Our rating: Partly false
Trump signed an executive order to pause foreign development assistance for 90 days, but the order doesn't connect the hold to action in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee or California.
Trump threatened to withhold federal aid for California wildfires
Trump’s second term began as several states recovered from destructive storms and wildfires.
In September, Hurricane Helene ravaged parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Hurricane Milton tore through Florida’s Gulf Coast about two weeks later. Most recently, a series of California fires has burned more than 50,000 acres of land and killed at least 28 people, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Trump’s flurry of day-one initiatives included an executive order directing agencies to pause foreign financial aid payments for 90 days. The agencies must review their programs and determine whether they align with Trump’s foreign aid policies.
But the order doesn't mention a contingency involving action in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee or California.
Fact check: Image of Musk post comparing MAGA to Nazi Germany is fabricated
To the contrary, Trump has threatened to withhold federal disaster aid from California if leaders don't redirect water to the southern part of the state and adopt voter identification laws.
The president criticized California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, for blocking attempts to route more water across the state from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Such a change would interfere with existing environmental protections for California’s endangered smelt fish, critics have said.
“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down into there,” Trump told Fox News shortly after his inauguration.
As for disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Trump has suggested overhauling the organization. Instead, those funds should be sent to governors to manage and respond to disasters, Trump said during a recent visit to North Carolina.
Paste BN reached out to Baio and the State Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources
- White House, Jan. 20, Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid
- White House, Jan. 20, Putting People over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California
- The New York Times, Jan. 27, Read the Memo Pausing Federal Grants and Loans
- Fox News, Jan. 23, President Donald Trump: California firefighters were brave, had to fight without water
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