Both CBS Mornings and NBC's Today pounced on a Washington Post story which promoted an email alleging there was an "armed militia" speaking darkly of "hunting FEMA." Both CBS and NBC connected this alleged threat to clips of Donald Trump speeches.
Washington Post reporter Brianna Sacks, whose bio proclaims she "explores how climate change is transforming the United States through violent storms, intense heat, widespread wildfires, and other forms of extreme weather," promoted the usual Anonymous Sources making unproven claims:
Around 1 p.m. Saturday, an official with the U.S. Forest Service, which is supporting recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sent an urgent message to numerous federal agencies warning that “FEMA has advised all federal responders Rutherford County, NC, to stand down and evacuate the county immediately. The message stated that National Guard troops 'had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA.’”
“The IMTs [incident management teams] have been notified and are coordinating the evacuation of all assigned personnel in that county,” the email added.
How real was this alleged threat? The Post story underlined that it wasn't sure, but FEMA went back into the field on Sunday:
Two federal officials confirmed the authenticity of the email, though it was unclear whether the quoted threat was seen as credible. The National Guard referred questions to FEMA when asked about the incident. One Forest Service official coordinating the Helene recovery said responders moved to a “safe area” and at least some work in that area — which included clearing trees off dozens of damaged and blocked roads to help search-and-rescue crews, as well as groups delivering supplies — was paused.
By Sunday afternoon, personnel were back in place, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
But on Monday morning, the panic remained. NBC's Kathy Park admitted they didn't have their own confirmation:
TOO GOOD TO CHECK! NBC pushes WashPost story on an email claiming armed militias were "hunting FEMA."
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) October 14, 2024
Kathy Park: "NBC News has not seen the e-mail cited by the Post, and it is unclear whether the threat mentioned was seen as credible."
Going off half-cocked. Narrative! pic.twitter.com/ng0FY15iQ7
The story came with a clip of Trump saying "Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants."
On CBS, reporter Nicole Sganga didn't even admit the shaky sourcing.
TOO GOOD TO CHECK! 'CBS Mornings' also repeated the WashPost "hunting FEMA" story, but unlike NBC, they never said they didn't do their own confirmation. No, Nicole Sganga, presented the Post as automatically correct, while underlining wild conspiracy theories on the internet. pic.twitter.com/fUrVNTZY6D
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) October 14, 2024
This story featured Trump saying "They stole the FEMA money...so they could give it to their illegal immigrants." Sganga reported Trump has "repeatedly spread that debunked lie," asserting the FEMA millions for migrants is a separate account.
The networks reviled FEMA as an inefficient gang of bunglers under President Bush after Hurricane Katrina, and now they surround FEMA like a journalistic Secret Service, decrying how this phantom of Trump-inspired "armed militias" is ruining government efficiency.
