White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre got embarrassed on a friendly network discussing the devastation of the island of Maui. Last week, massive brushfires tore through Hawaii, likely caused by damaged electrical wires subjected to high winds from a hurricane off the coast. The blaze killed over 100 people, with the death toll expected to rise. There are at least 1,000 people still unaccounted for as recovery efforts continue. Total damages are $6 billion. It’s one of the deadliest wildfires in a century.
The Biden White House is still recovering from the president’s compassionless remarks about the rising death toll. While vacationing on the Delaware shore, Biden said, “No comment” when asked about the situation on the island. After mounting backlash, Biden will visit Hawaii sometime next week.
But Ms. Grey Poupon, who is abysmal at her job, worsened the public relations issues by going on CNN and telling Maui survivors to use the FEMA website if they need assistance. Even CNN’s Sara Sidner couldn’t let this slide. Poupon knows that damaged power lines caused this fire, right? And that Maui is virtually a burned-out cinder. There’s no power, ma’am. No power, no Internet access (via Daily Caller) [emphasis mine]:
CNN’s Sara Sidner confronted White House press sec. Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday after she encouraged victims of the devastating Maui wildfires to use FEMA’s website and telephone line to get assistance despite limited access.
[…]
“This is something that the president takes very seriously. You’ve heard from the FEMA administrator there’s more than 600 personnel, and staffers on the ground. They’ve already provided $2.3 million of family assistance. And for those in Maui, in Hawaii, who are still looking to get that federal assistance, please go, call 800-621-FEMA. Go to disasterassistance.gov. We are here to help, the federal government is here to assist, to make sure they get everything that they need to rebuild and recover.”
“Karine I do want to ask you about that because FEMA was on the ground, they have been criticized in past disasters for not getting there quickly enough. But in this case, they were on the ground quickly. I do want to ask you, though, you talk about people having to call that number, they have to register, as we understand it. Call the number, go to the website. But here is the big problem we’re hearing on the ground, there is no power, they are having very spotty cell service, it’s very difficult to communicate, and they are restricted in their movement,” Sidner reported.
Can anyone in this administration do anything right?