Karoline Leavitt slammed a reporter for asking about acting FEMA Director David Richardson’s “joke” that he didn’t know the U.S. had a hurricane season, telling her, “I’m not going to engage in such fodder with a question like that”

Karoline Leavitt issued a scathing response to a reporter who asked about the recent “joke” made by acting Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director David Richardson, in which he said he didn’t know the U.S. had a hurricane season.

“We’re now in hurricane season, and obviously, there is great concern every year for the potential of that,” NBC News reporter Kelly O’Donnell began a line of questioning in a press briefing at the White House on Tuesday.

“Can you speak to how the president is planning to have the level of support, should it be needed, to be as it has been with the reduction in the workforce, and is he still comfortable with Administrator Richardson, who had talked, whether joking or not, about not being aware of a hurricane season for this country?

What is the president’s level of briefings on what may be required? If you could give us kind of an overall update on that,” O’Donnell asked.

David Richardson, the acting director of FEMA, joked that he didn't know the U.S. had a hurricane season

David Richardson, the acting director of FEMA, joked that he didn’t know the U.S. had a hurricane season ( 
Image:
Tia Dufour/Department of Homeland Security)

Leavitt’s first response was to call the reporting on Richardson’s comments “sloppy and irresponsible,” stating, “Well, of course, we know that we are into hurricane season now, and I know FEMA is taking this seriously, contrary to some of the reporting we have seen based on jokes that were made and leaks from meetings.”

Richardson said during a briefing with staff on Monday that he didn’t know the U.S. had an annual hurricane season, CBS News reported, citing three people familiar with the meeting. He’s only been in the position since May and has actively supported President Donald Trump’s desires to eliminate the agency altogether and return the responsibility of emergency management to the states.

The comments were said to fluster staffers, who have already seen hundreds of firings, layoffs and resignations as well as leadership overhauls and polygraph tests that were distributed to staff members. Many said Richardson didn’t appear to be joking and seemed genuinely surprised that hurricane season had started.

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“Secretary Kristi Noem and the FEMA leadership are all over this,” Leavitt added during Tuesday’s briefing. “They are committed to ensuring that federal resources and tax dollars are there for Americans in need, and the president continues to review requests for emergency aid and carefully considering them.”

She then accused several states of making “bad decisions with federal tax dollars” that put the unnamed states in harrowing financial situations and claimed that the federal government had to “bail these states out of.” She didn’t name the states.

“We want to see states be responsible with their tax dollars to do as much as they possibly can,” Leavitt said. “The president will deeply and thoughtfully consider any requests for federal aid that come to his desk.”

She reiterated her stance that the reporting on the FEMA scandal has been “frankly sloppy and irresponsible,” then touted Trump’s accomplishments during his first domestic trips, which were to North Carolina and California — two states that were ravaged by natural disasters in recent months.

“There are serious people who are taking this issue seriously, starting with the president himself, who, as you know, on his first domestic trip back in office visited both North Carolina and California, both of which were, of course, hit by natural disasters when he wasn’t even president,” Leavitt began. “But he took ownership of that and visited those places and those people immediately.”

The statement seemed to be a jab against former President Joe Biden, who Trump and his administration have slammed for what they called a poor handling of natural disasters, including those that struck both of the aforementioned states.

O’Donnell followed up by asking whether or not Trump believes joking about hurricane season is appropriate given Leavitt’s statement that “serious people” are “taking this issue seriously.”

“Is a joke about hurricane season appropriate, though, now? This is serious business, as you talked about,” O’Donnell stated. Leavitt’s response was scathing.

“It’s serious business, Kelly, and I’m not going to engage in such fodder with a question like that,” Leavitt said.