Trump and Melania leave the White House to tour disaster zones in North Carolina and California

By Rob Crilly, Chief U.S. Politicial Correspondent

President Donald Trump leaves Washington for his first trip of his second administration Friday to do a tour of disaster zones in North Carolina and California.

He heads first to Asheville, which was devasted by tornadoes in September, and where he condemned President Joe Biden’s response to the disaster.

More controversy awaits when he tours areas of Los Angeles levelled by wild fires.

He has frequently abused Gov. Gavin Newsom, nicknaming him ‘Newscum,’ and claimed that he will withhold federal aid unless the state turns on a valve he claims would allow water to flow in from northern parts of the state.

Experts say there is no such valve and that California has worked for years on trying to get more water to dry areas of the state.

‘I don't think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,’ Trump  said in an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity on Wednesday. The president also suggested shifting more responsibility to individual states for managing disasters. ‘I'd rather see the states take care of their own problems,’ he told Hannity, adding that ‘FEMA is getting in the way of everything.’

President Trump responded to California Sen. Adam Schiff’s decision to stay away from his L.A. fire visit. Schiff’s office cited nomination votes – there is one scheduled for Pete Hegseth to be Defense Secretary.

Asked why he invited Schiff, Trump responded while leaving the White House: ‘I don’t know. Is he going? Is he going? I don’t know, I mean I really don’t. You know, because if he’s going to be there it would be cheaper, but I didn’t invite him. Somebody did.’

Schiff’s office had said the new Democratic senator ‘greatly appreciates the President’s visit to see the devastation of these wildfires firsthand and the invitation to accompany him, and regrets that he’s unable to join the President in Los Angeles due to scheduled nomination votes.’

Trump in the past has called Schiff, a former House impeachment manager and January 6 panel member, ‘pencil neck’ and ‘scum.’

Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter on Capitol Hill

Donald Trump opened up about his shock that two GOP senators are going against his choice for defense secretary.

'I was very surprised that Collins and Murkowski would do that,' the president told reporters of the two veteran female senators from Alaska and Maine.

The pair noted last night in social media posts that they would not vote for Pete Hegseth's confirmation this evening.

It is the final hurdle the former Fox News host must cross to be sworn in.

'And of course, Mitch is always a no vote, I guess,' Trump added, mentioning the former longtime Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.

'Is Mitch a 'no' vote?' the president added. 'How about Mitch, huh?'

'Let's see what happens.'

If McConnell were to vote against Hegseth tonight, VP JD Vance would likely be forced to step in and break a tie.

If two GOP senators in addition to Murkowski and Collins vote 'no' on Hegseth, the 44-year-old will almost certainly not get confirmed.

By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent at the White House

President Donald Trump held his first 'chopper talk' Friday - engaging with reporters with first lady Melania Trump at his side as he departed on the South Lawn for Western North Carolina and then Los Angeles.

He complained that North Carolina has been a 'horrible thing.'

'The way that's been allowed to fester. And we're going to get it fixed up,' he said. 'Should have been months ago. From the hurricane that took place almost four months ago,' Trump said.

'North Carolina has been treated very badly so we're stopping there and we're then going to go to Los Angeles. And take a look at a fire that could have been put out if they had let the water flow, but they didn't let the water flow,' the president claimed.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff has turned down Donald Trump's invite to tour the devastation caused by the wildfires in Los Angeles.

The president leaves Washington for his first trip of his second administration Friday to do a tour of disaster zones in North Carolina and California.

He invited Schiff, a longtme foe who he called 'scum' on his first day back in the White House.

But a spokesman for the newly-elected Calfirornia Senator said he was 'unable' to attend due to 'scheduled nomination votes'.

Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter on Capitol Hill

Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon Pete Hegseth will be touring disaster zones in California and North Carolina alongside the president Friday.

The cross-country visits will occur just hours before the Senate is scheduled to vote on the nominee's final confirmation to become secretary of defense.

The many photo-ops may benefit the president and his pick as they tour hurricane and fire wreckage.

Hegseth can't afford to lose many more GOP votes in the Senate because two Republican senators announced they would not support the former Fox News host last night.

Putting on a united front with the president just before the critical confirmation vote may be enough to buoy Hegseth through what will be a choppy confirmation around 9 pm ET tonight.

President Donald Trump engaged in some of his signature 'chopper talk' before heading out on his trip to tour disaster recovery in North Carolina and Los Angeles.

First lady Melania Trump bundled up and accompanied him as he left the White House on a frigid morning in D.C.

She will attend meetings with him along with disaster relief officials and politicians.

The fist lady, who famously wore a jacket that said 'I really don't care, do you?' on a trip to visit child migrant shelters, sported a black knit cap and Aviator sunglasses – the eyewear of choice for former President Joe Biden.

Gavin Newsom plans to crash the proceedings when Donald Trump makes his first visit to California during his second term Friday to survey the Los Angeles wildfires.

Newsom, who has not been invited to join Trump on the tour, told the press Thursday that he's going to be at LAX to greet the president - whether he likes it or not.

'I look forward to being there on the tarmac to thank the president, welcome him, and we're making sure that all the resources he needs for a successful briefing are provided to him,' Newsom said.

He added that he'll be rolling out the red carpet, saying: 'There's no limit to the resources we'll provide for that briefing.'

Trump and the California governor have feuded for years, with the president referring to the liberal as 'Newscum' and the Democrat working tirelessly to keep Trump from regaining the White House.

Tensions have been high between the two of late, as Trump has slammed how Newsom handled the deadly wildfires.

The last secret files about the assassination of John F. Kennedy can now be published after President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the declassification of all remaining documents about the 1963 murder.

Conspiracy theories continue to swirl 60 years after the killing.

And any new information will excite the amateur sleuths who continue to wonder whether there is more to the story than just a lone gunman in the shape of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Trump signed an executive order that directs his Director of National Intelligence to put together a plan within 15 days for the full release of documents about the JFK assassination.

'That's a big one, huh?' he said as he scrawled his signature on the order, before asking that the pen be given to RFK Jr. 'A lot of people are waiting for this for a long ... for years, for decades.

'Everything will be revealed.'