GREENVILLE, N.C. — President Donald Trump used a North Carolina rally Tuesday to tie compensation for Camp Lejeune’s toxic water victims to the outcome of the Nov. 3 election.
Speaking in Greenville, Trump said that if Republicans keep the House and Senate he would direct the Justice Department to quickly settle every remaining legitimate claim, with the money going to veterans and their families. He then said that if Republicans lose there would be no money.
The comments drew pushback because Congress already acted. In 2022, lawmakers from both parties passed legislation letting people harmed by the base’s water seek compensation from the federal government, and paying those claims does not require a new vote. Some 407,000 claims have been filed since then, but fewer than 1% had been paid as of August, and many claimants have died while waiting.
Federal judges handling the litigation have set a deadline next week for the government and plaintiffs to reach a settlement, and trials are scheduled to begin soon after. Longtime advocates for exposed families responded that justice should not depend on party loyalty, noting that service members swore an oath to the country, not to a political party.
The contamination dates back decades. The federal government estimates about a million people were exposed between 1953 and 1987 at the Marine Corps base in Onslow County. The Marine Corps found volatile organic compounds in 1982 in water from two of the eight treatment plants on base. Federal health researchers traced the Tarawa Terrace plant’s PCE to an off-base dry cleaner, while the Hadnot Point plant was fouled mainly by TCE from leaking underground tanks, spills and waste sites. The worst wells were taken offline in early 1985.
It is the second time in about a month that Trump has suggested federal money for North Carolina hinged on his party winning. At a September stop in Gastonia he said he would not send more Hurricane Helene recovery aid to western North Carolina if Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley lost, before saying he was kidding.
Section: More Raleigh NC politics news
Filed under: Raleigh NC Politics News
