By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-24 20:31:33 | Updated at 2025-01-25 01:15:59
5 hours ago
President Donald Trump again threatened to dismantle FEMA as he traveled to Western North Carolina Friday to survey damage from Hurricane Helene.
'FEMA has really let us down, let the country down. And I don't know if that's Biden's fault or whose fault that is,' Trump told reporters after he touched down in Asheville. 'We're going to take over, we're going to do a good job.'
Trump already floated potentially killing FEMA - the Federal Emergency Management Agency - during his sit-down Wednesday with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity.
'All it does is just complicate everything,' he complained. 'FEMA has not done their job for the last four years.'
'Unless you have certain types of leadership, it gets in the way. And FEMA is going to be a whole big discussion very shortly because I'd rather see the states take care of their own problems,' Trump said.
He spoke glowingly of Oklahoma's 'very competent' disaster response - and how the state voted for him in the last election.
Trump reiterated that point on the ground Friday.
'We're looking at the whole concept of FEMA,' Trump said. 'I like, frankly, the concept when North Carolina gets hit, the governor takes care of it. When Florida gets hit, the governor takes care of it. Meaning the state takes care of it ... I'd like to see the states take care of disasters.'
President Donald Trump (left) again threatened to dismantle FEMA as he traveled to Western North Carolina Friday to survey damage from Hurricane Helen. Alongside first lady Melania Trump (center) he spoke to reporters on the tarmac in Asheville
Swannanoa, North Carolina resident Lucy Bickers, who received assistance from FEMA after Hurricane Helene damaged her property, holds a sign in support of the government disaster agency. Trump is threatening to dismantle FEMA - though would need Congress to do so
He said he'd have Congress give North Carolina direct disaster relief instead of having the dollars funnel through FEMA.
'I'll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA,' he said at a Hurricane Helene briefing moments later.
FEMA was created by an act of Congress - and so Congress would have to decide to dismantle the agency or radically change its structure.
Additionally if Congress appropriates money to FEMA the federal government is obligated to spend it.
Trump also said he would make the extraordinary move and put Michael Whatley, the newly reelected chair of the Republican National Committee, in charge of North Carolina disaster relief.
Whatley heralds from the state.
At the same time, Trump demanded that California adopt a voter ID law - which Democrats have historically been against - in order to see more disaster funding after the disastrous LA fires.
Trump had been asked if he would attempt to withhold disaster relief funding to Los Angeles due to its sanctuary city status.
'I want to see two things in Los Angeles: Voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state. Those are the two things,' he said.
President Donald Trump (center) attends a Hurricane Helene recovery briefing alongside first lady Melania Trump (right) in Asheville, North Carolina on Friday
'After that, I will be the greatest president that California have ever - has ever seen,' he boasted.
Trump reiterated that point a moment later.
'I want voter ID for the people of California, and they all want it right now. You have no, you don't have voter ID. People want to have voter identification. You want to have proof of citizenship,' Trump said. 'Ideally, you have one day voting. But I just want voter ID as a start.'
