Washington Post reporter Hannah Dreier posted a series of tweets over the weekend pushing a politicized perspective on the Surfside, Fl. condo collapse.

Dreier’s claim is that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did not give permission for FEMA provide on-the-ground aid for a full day. Dreier’s tweets have since been debunked.

“There’s a saying in emergency management: The first 24 hours are the only 24 hours,”  Dreier tweeted. “FEMA was ready to deploy to the condo collapse almost immediately, and included the crisis in its daily briefing, but didn’t get permission from Gov. DeSantis to get on the ground for a full day.”

Former head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Democrat lawmaker, Jared Moskowitz, responded by calling Dreier’s suggestion “malarkey.”

“FEMA’s mantra is ‘locally executed, state managed, and federal supported.’” Moskowitz said. “As the former director in FL who voted for Biden this tweet below is 100% Malarkey. FEMA would have deployed the federally funded USAR teams, which are located in @MiamiDadeCounty. They were already there.”

Miami-Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Cava issued an official emergency declaration less than 12 hours after the building collapsed. Less than one hour after that declaration, DeSantis issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency for Miami-Dade County.

DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw made the same point in her tweet posting the official declaration Cava signed.

“Miami Dade County emergency declaration signed by Mayor Cava at 4:33p.,” Pusaw tweeted. “State EO signed by Gov DeSantis at 5:32p.”

Cava, also a Democrat, went on NBC’s Chuck Todd and pushed back against the state’s alleged slow response time to her emergency requests.

“We are very grateful, not only the state of Florida has been here in force […] we’ve not lacked for any support,” she said.

Dreier has not removed her tweet or provided further comment.

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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Hannah Dreier” by Hannah Dreier.