Trump Pledges $1B To Veterans 'If We Win' Congress

President Donald Trump is telling voters federal assistance for their states hinges on the November election results.

In Greenville, North Carolina, earlier this month, Trump announced that the Justice Department had delivered $1 billion in cash settlements to veterans and family members affected by contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base. He said he would direct the department to settle remaining legitimate claims expeditiously, but added a condition: "if we win the House and the Senate." Trump told reporters at the White House that if Republicans do not hold Congress, "somebody else is going to have to settle" the claims.

At a rally in Park City, Kansas, Trump tied an ethanol waiver to the state's Senate race. He granted a waiver allowing year-round sales of E15, an ethanol-blended gasoline usually restricted to summer months. "With Roger Marshall in the Senate, we will make year-round E15 permanent," Trump said. "But if Adam Hamilton is in, I'm not doing it." The Environmental Protection Agency can issue such waivers at an administration's discretion. Tyson Brody, a spokesman for Hamilton's campaign, said, "Roger Marshall has been in Congress for 10 years and never passed year-round E15."

In Perry, Georgia, last week, Trump said GOP Senate candidate Mike Collins can call him for state help, but that a Democratic senator could not. Trump referred to Sen. Jon Ossoff by a derisive nickname and acted out a scenario in which Ossoff requested state funding, saying in response, "I don't give a damn what he wants." Ossoff told The Associated Press: "It's a losing strategy for the failed president to insult and threaten voters while he's in town reminding them he made everything more expensive."

Trump has also conditioned other assistance on election outcomes. At a September rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, he said the state was waiting on Hurricane Helene recovery money and added, "Now, if Michael loses, I'm not sending it," referring to Senate candidate Michael Whatley. Trump later said he was joking. In Vandalia, Ohio, this month, Trump discussed disaster relief and said of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, "I don't know anything about her.. I'm not gonna help her probably." Jill Steen Dilgard, whose father and relatives served at Camp Lejeune and later received cancer diagnoses, told the AP that conditioning care for veterans on election results was "totally unacceptable."

White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump "is committed to keeping a Republican majority in Congress" so he can advance his agenda on taxes, prescription drugs and immigration. Ingle added, "Democrats have made it clear that they have no agenda to improve the lives of the American people." Trump has announced state-specific benefits at rallies including semiconductor investments, a submarine repair center, protections for a steam-powered heat utility in Ohio, billions in Montana mortgage investment through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and pardons for Alaska truckers convicted of environmental violations.

At the Perry rally, Trump said he was not joking about declining to help Ossoff. "Having people that you like call you as opposed to people that you can't stand" makes a difference, he said.