President Donald Trump again threatened to dismantle FEMA as he traveled to Western North Carolina on 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 being touched in Asheville. “We’re going to take over, we’re going to do it right.”
Trump already possibly floated 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 really big discussion very soon because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems,” Trump said.
He spoke glowingly about Oklahoma’s “highly competent” disaster response — and how the state voted for him in the last election.
Trump reiterated that point on the floor Friday.
“We’re looking at the whole concept of FEMA,” Trump said. “I like the concept, honestly, when North Carolina gets hit, the governor takes care of it. When Florida gets hit, the governor takes care of it. Which means the state takes care of… I would 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 on Friday to survey damage from Hurricane Helen. Next to 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, has a sign in support of the government’s disaster agency. Trump threatens to dismantle FEMA – but would need Congress to do so
He said he would like Congress to give North Carolina direct disaster relief instead of having the dollars funneled through FEMA.
“I will also sign an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or perhaps getting rid of FEMA,” he said moments later during a Hurricane Helene briefing.
FEMA was created by Congress – and so Congress should decide to dismantle the agency or radically change its structure.
Furthermore, if Congress appropriates money to FEMA, the federal government is obligated to spend it.
Trump also said he would make the extraordinary move and bring in Michael Whatley, the newly re-elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, in charge of North Carolina’s emergency response.
Whatley announces from the state.
At the same time, Trump demanded that California pass voter ID legislation — which Democrats have historically opposed — in order to see more disaster funding after the disastrous LA fires.
Trump had been asked whether he would try to withhold disaster relief funding from Los Angeles because of its sanctuary city status.

President Donald Trump (center) attends a Hurricane Helene Recovering Briefing alongside First Lady Melania Trump (right) in Asheville, North Carolina on Friday
‘I want to see two things in Los Angeles: voter ID so people have the opportunity to vote, and I want to see the water being released and coming down to Los Angeles and across the state. Those are the two things,” he said.
“After that, I’ll be the greatest president California has ever seen — ever seen,” he boasted.
Trump reiterated that point moments later.
“I want voter ID for the people of California, and they all want it now. You have no, you do not have a voter ID. People want to have voter identification. You want to have proof of citizenship,” Trump said. Ideally, you have voted at some point during the day. But I just want it as a start ID. ‘
(Tagstotranslate) DailyMail (T) News (T) Donald Trump (T) California (T) Los Angeles (T) US Politics (T) North Carolina