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United States President Donald Trump speaks during a disaster briefing in a hangar, as he visits to assess recovery efforts and tour areas devastated by Hurricane Helene, at the Asheville Regional Airport in Asheville, North Carolina North, on January 24, 2025.
Leah Millis | Reuters
President Donald Trump said Friday that he plans to take executive action to reform, or possibly end, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMAcriticizing the agency for its response to historic flooding in North Carolina.
“I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away,” Trump said at a briefing in Asheville, North Carolina, which was devastated in September by Hurricane Helena.
Trump’s first step in that direction could come soon: He is ready to sign an executive order that will create a task force to review FEMA and recommend changes to the agency, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to CNBC.
The task force, called the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council, will include the secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense, as well as other subject matter experts from the private sector.
The group will be ordered to give Trump a report on FEMA that includes recommended changes, possibly including abandoning the agency entirely. Traffic light He reported the order first.
The president arrived later Friday in Los Angeles, which continues to battle wildfires that have devastated large areas of the city.
Speaking to reporters on the airport tarmac upon his arrival in Asheville, Trump said, “We’re looking at the whole concept of FEMA.”
“Frankly, I like the concept that when North Carolina is affected, the governor takes care of it. When Florida is affected, the governor takes care of it, meaning the state takes care of it.” , said.
“For a group of people to come from an area that doesn’t even know where they’re going, to immediately solve a problem is something that’s never worked for me,” Trump said.
Trump added that additional aid for North Carolina and California should flow directly from the federal government.
“So instead of going through FEMA, it will go through us,” he said.
Trump’s comments on FEMA appear to align with the conservative policy plan known as Project 2025that calls for reforming agency spending to “shift most preparedness and response costs to states and localities rather than the federal government.”
Trump politicized Helene shortly after it hit the United States, criticizing then-President Joe Biden’s handling of the federal response and spreading falsehoods about FEMA actions.
In January, when the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles was devastated by unprecedented wildfires, Trump sought to blame the destruction on California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.
He also threatened to condition federal aid to combat wildfires on a change in the state’s water policy.
The Biden administration as of November 5 had approved more than 2.7 billion dollars in full FEMA assistance for survivors of Helene and Hurricane Milton, which hit Florida’s west coast less than two weeks after Helene.
Swannanoa resident Lucy Bickers, who received assistance from FEMA after Hurricane Helene damaged her property, holds a sign in support of the government disaster agency as she waits on the route to visit US President Donald Trump’s motorcade in Swannanoa , North Carolina, United States, on January 24. , 2025.
Jonathan Drake | Reuters
The New York Times reported earlier Friday that while some former FEMA leaders agree with Trump that states should be in charge of managing their own disasters, the states themselves tend to want more federal help.
The Trump administration has not yet unveiled any formal proposals to restructure FEMA or federal disaster relief policy.
As he mulls eliminating FEMA, Trump continues to promise disaster-affected communities that they will receive federal aid.
“We will get you the resources you need and the support you deserve,” he said Friday in Asheville.
