Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has begged President Donald Trump to rethink his rejection of her request for catastrophe aid funds after tornadoes devastated her state final month.
The previous Trump White Home press secretary wrote to Trump in March after storms ravaged the state, killing three folks.
Sanders, who typically sparred with journalists within the press room as White Home Press Secretary throughout Trump’s first administration, declared a state of emergency and requested her former boss to declare a significant catastrophe so the state may safe a federal handout.
However the Trump administration rejected the request and mentioned the harm might be dealt with by the state.
In an attraction to Trump, her former boss, Sanders and the Arkansas Division of Emergency Administration wrote once more on April 18 and pleaded with the president that Arkansas is “in dire want of federal help.”
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders requested President Donald Trump for federal help following devastating tornadoes in Arkansas. He rejected her request. (AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
“The extreme storms and tornadoes that occurred on March 14 and 15, 2025, produced catastrophic impacts throughout the state. The sheer magnitude of this occasion resulted in overwhelming quantities of particles, widespread destruction to properties and companies, the tragic lack of three lives, and accidents to many others,” Sanders mentioned within the letter, the Arkansas Occasions studies.
She described how a second wave of extreme climate hit Arkansas lower than three weeks later.
“Given the cumulative influence of those occasions, federal help is crucial to assist our communities get better,” Sanders mentioned.
The plea for assist marks a big departure from statements Sanders made in 2023.
“So long as I’m your governor, the meddling hand of huge authorities creeping down from Washington DC will likely be stopped chilly on the Mississippi River,” she wrote in a submit on X in January 2023.
Nonetheless, the Biden administration swiftly allotted federal funds to assist Arkansas when storms that very same month killed 5 folks.
Sanders, who joined Trump on the marketing campaign path final yr, beforehand mentioned she would cease the ‘meddling hand of huge authorities’ in Arkansas. She was known as out for ‘hypocrisy’ in 2023. (Getty Pictures)
Throughout the gubernatorial race, Sanders campaigned for the “proper to be freed from socialism and tyranny.”
Trump has floated abolishing the Federal Emergency Administration Company, which responds to every kind of pure disasters and different emergencies throughout the nation, and depart the duty of responding to emergencies as much as particular person state governments. Trump and his Division of Authorities Effectivity led by Elon Musk have been on the lookout for methods to slash the federal funds by lowering packages and staffing.
“ what? In the event that they get hit with a twister or one thing, let Oklahoma repair it … after which the federal authorities may help them out with the cash,” Trump mentioned in January. “FEMA is getting in the way in which of all the pieces. And the Democrats really use FEMA to not assist North Carolina. It is unnecessary.”
Earlier than she requested Trump for a handout, Sanders backed Musk’s cost-cutting efforts and mentioned her state was doing the identical.
“What @elonmusk is doing with DOGE is a sport changer,” Sanders mentioned in a submit on the billionaire’s X platform on the finish of February. “Arkansas did the identical factor and uncovered tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} in waste and inefficiencies and I do know @DOGE goes to search out much more.”