One year ago this week, a powerful bomb cyclone ripped through Washington state, with winds of up to 74 mph downing trees and power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands without power and killing two people.

The storm caused an estimated $34 million in damage across six counties. It was the kind of costly natural disaster that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has historically stepped in to help.

But President Donald Trump’s administration has stiffed Washington’s request for a major disaster declaration — without any detailed explanation — despite a damage assessment showing the state qualified for federal assistance.

By contrast, Trump has recently steered, and bragged about, FEMA dollars to Republican-led states, publicly linking disaster money to those states’ electoral support

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