US President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing in the event of a disaster in a hanger, while visiting to assess recovery efforts and visit areas devastated by Hurricane Helene, at Asheville regional airport In Asheville, North Carolina, January 24, 2025.
Leah Millis | Reuters
President Donald Trump announced on Friday FemaClaiming the agency for its response to historic floods in North Carolina.
“I think we are going to recommend that FEMA leaves,” said Trump in a briefing in Asheville, North Carolina, which was devastated in September by Hurricane Helene.
Trump’s first stage in this direction could come soon: he is about to sign a decree, creating a working group to review the FEMA and recommend changes to the agency, confirmed the press secretary of the White House , Karoline Leavitt, confirmed to CNBC.
The working group, called the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council, will include the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense, as well as other private sector experts.
The group will be responsible for delivering to Trump a report on the FEMA which includes recommended changes – possibly including the abandonment of the agency all together. Semaor first reported the order.
The president later Friday arrived in Los Angeles, who continues to fight forest fires which have ravaged large expanses of the city.
Addressing journalists on an airport tarmac upon arrival in Asheville, Trump said: “We are examining the whole concept of FEMA.”
“I like, frankly, the concept [that] When North Carolina is struck, the governor takes care of it. When Florida is affected, the governor takes care of it, which means that the state takes care of it, “he said.
“Having a group of people comes from an area that doesn’t even know where they are going, in order to solve a problem immediately is something that has never worked for me,” said Trump.
Trump added that additional Aid for North Carolina and California should result directly from the federal government.
“So, rather than going through Fema, it will cross us,” he said.
Trump’s comments on FEMA seem to line up on the conservative policy plan known as the name 2025 projectWho calls for the agency’s expense reform to “change the majority of the costs of preparation and response to states and localities rather than the federal government”.
Trump politicized Helene little time after hitting the United States Distribution of lies On the actions of FEMA.
In January, when the Los Angeles Pacific Palisades district was leveled by unprecedented forest fires, Trump sought to blame the destruction of the Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom.
He also threatened to make federal assistance to fight forest fires subordinate to a change in state water policy.
Biden administration on November 5 had approved more than $ 2.7 billion In total, the help of FEMA for the survivors of Hélène and the Hurricane Milton, who struck the west coast of Florida less than two weeks after Helene.
The resident of Swannanoa, Lucy Bickers, who received the help of FEMA after Hurricane Helene damaged her property, holds a sign in support of the government catastrophe agency while she waits on the way From the visit of the President of the American President Donald Trump to Swannanoa, North Carolina, United States, January 24, January 24, 2025.
Jonathan Drake | Reuters
The New York Times reported earlier on Friday that some former FEMA leaders are suitable for Trump that states should be responsible for managing their own disasters, states themselves want more federal aid.
The Trump administration has not yet revealed any official proposal for the reorganization of FEMA or federal policy on help in the event of a disaster.
While he is thinking about the elimination of FEMA, Trump continues to promise communities assigned to disasters they will receive federal aid.
“We are going to get you the resources you need and the support you deserve,” he said on Friday in Asheville.
