Trump threatens to withhold disaster funds for North Carolina unless they vote Republican- but he's 'only kidding'

Outlets agree that at a rally for Michael Whatley, Trump tied additional North Carolina disaster aid to the outcome of Whatley’s Senate race, then said he was kidding. Center outlets frame the remark as a question of whether Trump threatened to withhold aid, while also reporting the joking qualification and responses from the Cooper campaign and officials. The two unrated articles likewise emphasize the conditional remark and his follow-up that he was kidding.