The president told the Fox News host that the federal government can help finance states’ disaster response, but he would like to leave the coordination to the states themselves.
(LifeSiteNews) — In his first interview since returning to the Oval Office, President Donald Trump said he will discuss eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s active role in disaster response in favor of leaving such operations to the states.
“Unless you have certain types of leadership, (FEMA) gets in the way,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday.
“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. If Oklahoma has a tornado, for example, the state should “fix it,” he went on, adding, “Oklahoma is very competent.”
“And then the federal government can help them out with the money,” he continued, without making clear whether he would retain a remnant of FEMA for this purpose.
“FEMA is getting in the way of everything. The Democrats actually used FEMA not to help North Carolina,” Trump said.
FEMA was lambasted for neglecting North Carolina after it was ravaged by Hurricane Helene, which left millions stranded — homeless, powerless, and without access to necessities like food and water. The federal agency’s role is to assist disaster response coordination when local or state resources are overtaxed, and a state governor declares a state of emergency and asks the president for FEMA assistance.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admitted after the devastation that FEMA did “not have the funds” to assist Americans through the remainder of that Atlantic hurricane season despite the fact that FEMA spent more than $1.4 billion to support illegal immigrants since late 2022. Biden-Harris administration has also faced sharp criticism for lacking funds to assist Americans while sending billions of dollars to foreign countries like Ukraine.
Shortly after in Florida, a FEMA supervisor had stunningly ordered relief workers in Lake Placid, Florida, to skip over homes that showed support for President-elect Donald Trump in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. Former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody thereafter filed a lawsuit against FEMA and Washington for conspiring to violate the civil rights of Florida citizens whose homes were skipped over for their support of Trump.
Trump told Hannity he would stop by North Carolina on Friday, where the hurricane victims are “still suffering from months ago.”
“We’re going to get that thing straightened out,” Trump said.
