Pete Buttigieg called out the prolific spread of “bad information or false information” in the wake of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton while speaking on MSNBC Thursday. “This is a life and death response operation. And when people get bad information or false information, that has real world consequences,” he said.
Buttigieg had praise for FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who he said is “leading extraordinary work.”
“She’s on the ground right now, and she talked about how the misinformation going around right now is just a multiple hire of anything that we’ve really seen before, and again, that has very real consequences if it can actively interfere with the ability of responders to serve people and the ability of people to get good and accurate information,” Buttigieg said.
There is “no excuse” for deliberately spreading false information about on the ground relief efforts, he continued. “And whether it’s whether it’s malicious, whether it’s politically motivated, or whether it’s just lazy, there is no excuse for circulating false information at a time like this, when what people need, just like you need power, you need shelter, you need transportation, you need clean, safe water, something else you need in a situation like this is the truth, good information.”
GOP leaders, including Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have been widely criticized for their continued dissemination of hurricane-related misinformation. During his press briefing Wednesday President Biden described the pair’s behavior as “un-American.”
“I simply don’t know. You can speculate … but I just find it — and I’m using this phrase more than I’ve ever used it in my whole career — un-American. It’s un-American. It’s not who the hell we are. What are they talking about?” Biden said.
