Trump ties NC Camp Lejeune settlements to GOP win, angering survivors
By: Trevon Spencer
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
GREENVILLE, N.C. — President Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters Tuesday that his administration would direct the U.S. Department of Justice to settle remaining claims from veterans and family members sickened by contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, but would do so only if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in November.
“I am directing the Department of Justice to settle all remaining legitimate claims as soon as possible and get it off the books and get it finished,” Trump said at the rally at the Pitt-Greenville Airport .
“If we don’t win, there’s no money,” Trump said. “If we do win, you’re getting it.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has tied the resolution of outstanding claims to the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections. He also tied outstanding Helene aid to a Republican win at a recent event in Gastonia, North Carolina, although he later said he was joking.
The Camp Lejeune Justice Act, enacted in 2022, established a process for people exposed to contaminated water at the Jacksonville base between 1953 and 1987 to seek compensation for resulting illnesses.
Trump said his administration had delivered $1 billion in cash settlements to veterans and their families, most of whom he said were based in North Carolina. The Justice Department reported last month that it has already released more than $879 million in payouts through the claims process overall.
However, that’s only a small part of the funding that was set aside years ago for survivors. The money has been the subject of a long-running legal battle between the federal government and survivors, who say it has been too slow to pay claims.
Jill Steen Dilgard lost her father to cancer, as well as an uncle and two cousins. All four served at Camp Lejeune. She began advocating for affected families in 2017, when she first learned about the contamination.
She filed a claim with the government in August 2022, and has been waiting for a payment ever since.
Dilgard told NC Newsline she was “furious and sickened” when she heard Trump’s remarks. She said the people affected by the contamination should never become part of a political fight.
“I don’t care what side of the political aisle you come from,” she said. “ You’re making derogatory remarks toward people who went through a horrible, horrible experience and many still fight in that battle.”
She also said Trump could have done more in his first term to resolve the claims.
“If he has all the authority he says he does to make this happen, why didn’t he do the right thing from the get-go?” she said.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein also criticized Trump’s comments in a social media post Tuesday after the rally.
“ Real leaders fight for the people, not for power,” he said. “To condition doing the right thing by sick North Carolinians on who wins the election is foul.”
U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, a Raleigh Democrat, has worked on legislation intended to address delays in the Camp Lejeune claims process. She said a backlog of claims in the federal court system has slowed the process.
Ross co-sponsored the bipartisan Ensuring Justice for Camp Lejeune Victims Act of 2025, which would update the 2022 law to help claimants receive timely payouts by capping attorney fees and speeding up when claims go to trial. But the bill hasn’t moved.
“There are people dying before they get justice,” she told NC Newsline.
Ross criticized Trump for promising to resolve claims if Republicans win Congress while the legislation is stalled. She said the issue should not depend on which party controls Congress.
“It’s wrong, unethical and un-American,” she said. “If he had that power, why is he making sick and grieving families wait today?”
Trump also told supporters he wanted the settlements to go directly to the families affected at Camp Lejeune.
“We don’t want to give any to the trial lawyers,” he said. “We want it to go to the families, not the lawyers.”
It’s not clear whether that’s possible. But Dilgard said that doesn’t matter if the claims aren’t paid to the families at all.
“How can you play political games with people’s lives?” she said. “It’s just not something you ever want to see or hear.”
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"Sickening" doesn't even begin to describe the disgusting perversion that is Donald Trump.
he'll only follow his version of his oath of office, as long as he gets exactly what he wants ...
fuck him.
I was there in 96. It was forbidden to drink the water or use it for cooking, but by that time the onus was on the service member and their family.
I still question that it was safe to bath or shower with.
After that it was hard to get anyone to trust tap water again.
If you, or anyone else, is entitled to compensation for becoming ill, Trump will only allow you to have it if Republicans keep control of Congress. Otherwise, too fucking bad.
Then again we had property in the Poconos of PA and the parlor trick was to fill a clear glass of water from the tap and then light it.
Supposedly it was safe to ingest, lol.
Fracking and methane.
we have a few neighborhoods in denver metro like that. seen it in the kitchen with my own 2 eyes ...
I never knew anyone that drank the tap water anywhere in texas. fracking chemical contamination of the well water at the va hospital in big spring texas back about 2013 put a major kink in my efforts to move my wacko father from the nut house in midland to it and I had to go get him and bring him back to colorado for 2 years of hell.
Everywhere around DFW on city water is safer than well water on a ranch.
But they have whole aisles of bottled water at every supermarket and Sams, Costco et al.
I really liked lugging cases of bottled water and gallon jugs up to my mom's 2nd floor condo every week for 3+ years.
kept you young, lol.
Great meme with AI generated Zelinsky, Putin and Trump.
that's about the size of it ...
But Trump loves the troops and they love him /s
There fixed it for ya.
Remember when pandering had some nuance to it? Now it’s just straight up naked coercion.
He also promised NC voters he would release more FEMA funds for Ashville flood victims ( 2 years ago ) if they elect his lap dog Whitley over Roy Cooper.
When called out on that he said he was joking.
“Joking” would be the best get out of jail card ever conceived, if it worked on anyone other than morons … the same morons who supported him in the first place.
Of course he was. He has no intention of releasing any FEMA funds to those people ever.