Trump jokes about withholding North Carolina hurricane funding if Whatley loses, then quickly said he was ‘only kidding’

President Donald Trump held a rally Wednesday night in Gastonia backing Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Michael Whatley. He framed the November matchup with Democrat Roy Cooper as a choice over crime and which party would hold the Senate. Trump asked the crowd to “pretend I’m on the ballot” and said a Cooper win would put Democrats in charge of the chamber.

According to WFMY News, he called the race “too close” and kept pressing supporters to turn out on Nov. 3. The speech lasted about an hour and centered on attacks on Cooper, the former two-term governor. Trump labeled him a “murderer protector” and tied him to violent crime statewide, highlighting the August 2025 stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train.

Trump again said Cooper released 3,500 inmates. The campaign ran a video montage of news clips on the Zarutska case and Cooper’s 2020 criminal justice task force. Cooper’s administration agreed in February 2021 to the early release of at least 3,500 people to settle a lawsuit over COVID-19 conditions in state prisons.

Trump and Cooper camps clash over inmate releases and storm recovery money

Prison officials said at the time that people serving sentences for crimes against a person were not eligible, but they later acknowledged that some people convicted of violent crimes were among those released. Trump said the man charged in Zarutska’s killing, Decarlos Brown Jr., “should never have been on your streets” and claimed Cooper released him.

State prison officials say Brown was not part of the 2021 settlement. He served a full minimum sentence for armed robbery and got out in September 2020, months before the deal was signed. Brown was released in 2025 after a Mecklenburg County magistrate set no bond following a misdemeanor arrest in January 2025, days after Cooper officially left office.

A Cooper campaign spokesperson said independent fact-checkers have called the attacks by Trump and Whatley false. “Michael Whatley is getting desperate, and it’s shameful that he’s using heinous crimes to try to deceive North Carolinians,” the spokesperson said.

“While Roy spent his career putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars and signing tough on crime laws as governor, Michael Whatley has continued to knowingly appoint, campaign with and elevate convicted child sex predators who spent time in prison and is celebrating the support of a President who released over 13,000 prisoners during COVID without a court order.”

More than 13,000 federal prisoners were released to home confinement under the CARES Act, which Trump signed in March 2020. Trump’s comments on North Carolina politics come as the state remains politically divided, with some residents expressing strong support for him.  

Turning to Hurricane Helene, Trump said Cooper “did nothing” and credited Whatley with pushing him to visit western North Carolina after taking office. He said the federal government has spent more than $2 billion in FEMA funding and said he would deliver nearly $3 billion more for roads and bridges.

“Now, if Michael loses, I’m not sending it, OK. No, I’m only kidding,” Trump said. FEMA said last month that total federal assistance for Helene and other recent disasters in North Carolina has surpassed $7.5 billion. State officials have estimated that Helene caused about $60 billion in damage.

In response, the Cooper campaign spokesperson said Cooper “led North Carolina through several major catastrophic storms, activating emergency resources, keeping families safe and securing significant state and federal funding for recovery.” 

The spokesperson said Whatley “has failed in his role as federal recovery czar, as Western North Carolina has only received about 15% of the critical funding it needs,” and that Cooper “will work with leaders in both parties to fast-track federal funding.”

Whatley, a Blowing Rock native who chaired the North Carolina Republican Party and later the Republican National Committee, spoke briefly and described his 2015 decision to work for Trump’s first campaign. “Here we are 11 years later, and every single day, Donald Trump is fighting to make America great. And I am still with that guy,” Whatley said.

Trump also promoted a proposed $5,000 “Trump dividend” for every adult if Republicans keep the House and Senate, which he said would be funded by tariff revenue. He said he would seek to make the tax cuts in last year’s budget bill permanent, end no-cash bail nationwide, and pass a national voter ID law. 

He endorsed Republican congressional candidates Laurie Buckhout in the 1st District and Jennifer Balkcom in the 11th District, both of whom spoke. Trump said he would return to North Carolina before the election.