Written by Nandita Bose and Steve Holland
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday floated the idea of closing the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a trip to disaster areas in North Carolina and California, where he pledged government support and clashed with Democratic officials.
Trump's visit, after taking office on Monday, showed a desire to make an early appearance in the two states that were hit by a hurricane and massive forest fires, respectively. But he interspersed both visits with criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and pledged to sign an executive order to reform or eliminate the main federal agency that responds to natural disasters.
“FEMA turned out to be a disaster,” he said during a tour of a North Carolina neighborhood devastated by Hurricane Helen in September. “I think we recommend that FEMA go.”
Trump accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency of sabotaging emergency relief efforts there, and said he would prefer that states receive federal funds to deal with disasters on their own.
The president also criticized California's response to the Los Angeles fires that caused widespread devastation, but pledged to work with Governor Gavin Newsom and offered assistance to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass during his visit to the state.
“We're looking to get something done. The way you get it done is we work together to govern the state, and we'll get it done. They're going to need a lot of federal help,” Trump said. He told reporters after Newsom met him on the runway when Air Force One later landed in Los Angeles.
Three huge fires still threaten the area.
Newsom, a Democrat who has had a tense relationship with the Republican leader, told Trump that California would need his support.
Trump accused Newsom and Bass of “gross incompetence” and their Republican colleagues in Congress threatened to withhold disaster aid.
During a meeting with California officials, Trump sparred with Bass and another Democratic lawmaker, and pressed the city's mayor to use emergency powers, allow people to return to their properties quickly, and allow them to remove debris themselves. Bass stressed the importance of safety and Rep. Brad Sherman praised the work of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Trump asked Richard Grenell, the former ambassador to Germany, to represent him in the response to the California fires.
Water battle, FEMA shutdown?
Trump has previously threatened to withhold aid from California and repeated in North Carolina a false claim that Newsom and other officials refused to provide water from the northern part of the state to fight fires.
Water shortages caused some taps to run dry in the affluent Pacific Palisades region, hampering the early response. When the fires hit, one reservoir that could have provided more water to the area sat empty for a year. Officials promised an investigation into the cause of the drought.
Bass and fire officials said the hydrants were not designed to handle such a massive disaster, and stressed the unprecedented nature of the fires.
Meanwhile, experts doubt that Trump alone can shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Repealing FEMA would likely require congressional action, said Rob Verczyk, a former Obama administration official at the Environmental Protection Agency who is now a professor at Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans.
He said FEMA was created by former President Jimmy Carter by executive order, but was assigned roles and funding by Congress for the nation's emergency response programs.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) brings emergency personnel, supplies and equipment to help areas begin to recover from natural disasters. The agency's funding has increased in recent years as extreme weather events have increased demand for its services.
The agency has 10 regional offices and employs more than 20,000 people across the country.
FEMA was the target of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump's second term prepared by his allies and from which the president distanced himself during the election. The plan called for dismantling the Department of Homeland Security and moving the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Department of the Interior or the Department of Transportation.
In addition, she proposed changing the formula the agency uses to determine when federal disaster assistance is warranted, shifting the costs of disaster prevention and response to the states.
Trump complained that his predecessor, Joe Biden, did not do enough to help western North Carolina recover from Helen, an accusation the Biden administration rejected as misinformation.
In an X post on Friday, Democratic U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross of North Carolina said FEMA was a critical partner in the state's hurricane recovery.
“I appreciate President Trump's concern about Western North Carolina, but eliminating FEMA would be a disaster for our state,” she said.
The trip to North Carolina and California caps a week during which Trump moved with astonishing speed to fulfill campaign promises on illegal immigration, the size of the federal workforce, energy and the environment, gender and diversity policies, and pardons for supporters who were jailed in January. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
