Karine Jean-Pierre abruptly walks out of press briefing after quarrel with reporter on FEMA funding

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday abruptly left a press briefing after a heated exchange with Fox News reporter Peter Doocy regarding funding for Hurricane Helene victims versus Lebanon.

Republicans have accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of improperly using funds on illegal immigration when there is a natural disaster on the East Coast. FEMA has pushed back on the accusations, claiming that the funds for immigrants and the funds for hurricane victims are part of separate orders.

The accusations come after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters that FEMA does not “have the funds to make it through the [hurricane] season."

Doocy highlighted Vice President Kamala Harris' commitment to sending $157 million in "additional assistance" to Lebanon amid attacks from Israel, and questioned why the White House needs Congress to return in order to approve money for FEMA and not for Lebanon.

"On this issue of funding, the administration has money to send to Lebanon without Congress coming back. But Congress does have to come back to approve money to send to people in North Carolina. Do I have that right?" Doocy asked, according to Fox News.

"The president and the vice president has had a robust whole-of-government response to this… More than $200 million …for the disaster help," Jean-Pierre responded, before accusing Doocy of spreading misinformation. "People want to do disinformation, misinformation, which is dangerous because then when folks on the ground hear that, they may not want to ask for the help that they need that is there for them."

Doocy pushed back on the allegations of misinformation, stating that claiming there is no money for people in North Carolina is not "misinformation." 

"President Biden is fond of saying, ‘show me your budget and I will tell you what you value,’" Doocy shot back. "If he's got money for people in Lebanon right now without Congress having to come back, what does it say about his values? There's not enough money right now for people in North Carolina who need it. That's not misinformation."

Jean-Pierre claimed that the "whole premise" of the question was "misinformation" because there is allegedly funding for people impacted by the hurricane. 

"You can't call a question you dislike misinformation," Doocy said.

"No, what you're asking me is why Congress needs to come back and do their job. That's what you're asking me. Congress needs to come back and do their job and provide extra assistance, extra funding for the disaster relief fund. That's what Congress needs to do," the press secretary responded. "You may not want that, but that's okay. That's what this president wants, and that's what the vice president wants." 

Jean-Pierre then left the briefing room and ended the press briefing. 

The heated exchange comes on the same day that the White House confirmed President Joe Biden issued a "pre-landfall emergency declaration for the State of Florida" ahead of the next hurricane, a Category 5 storm named "Hurricane Milton." 

"FEMA is supporting the State of Florida to speed up debris removal from Hurricane Helene in the Tampa region in advance of Milton's landfall, and is surging additional resources to the area," the White House posted in a thread on X. "FEMA has sufficient funding to support the response to Hurricane Milton and continued response to Hurricane Helene – including funding to support first responders and provide immediate assistance to disaster survivors."

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.