Trump recommends ending FEMA ahead of California fire site visit

president Donald Trump He said Friday that he plans to take executive action to comprehensively overhaul — or perhaps end — the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA FEMAgrabbing the agency for its response to historic floods in North Carolina.

“I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away,” Trump said at a news conference in Asheville, North Carolina, which was devastated in September. Hurricane Helen.

Trump’s first step in that direction could come soon: He is set to sign an executive order creating a task force to review FEMA and recommend changes to the agency, White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt confirmed on CNBC.

The task force, called the FEMA Review Board, will include homeland security and defense secretaries, as well as other subject matter experts in the private sector.

The group will be directed to hand Trump a report on FEMA that includes recommended changes — perhaps including getting rid of the agency all together. Semafor I mentioned it first.

The president arrived later Friday in Los Angeles, which continues to battle wildfires that have destroyed large swaths of the city.

Speaking to reporters on the tarmac upon his arrival in Asheville, Trump said, “We’re looking at the whole concept of FEMA.”

“I like, honestly, the concept [that] When North Carolina hurts, the governor takes care of it. When Florida is hurt, the governor takes care of it, which means the state takes care of it.”

“To have a group of people from an area that don’t even know where to go, to solve a problem right away is something that hasn’t 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 be in line with the conservative policy blueprint known as Project 2025which calls for reforming the agency’s spending to “shift the majority of preparedness and response costs to states and localities rather than the federal government.”

Trump politicized Helen shortly after she hit the US, criticizing her then-president Joe BidenDealing with the federal response and Spreading lies About the actions of FEMA.

In January, when Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood was leveled by unprecedented wildfires, Trump sought to shift the blame for the devastation onto California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

He also threatened to provide federal aid to fight wildfires due to a change in water policy in the state.

The Biden administration as of November 5 approved more than $2.7 billion In total FEMA assistance to survivors of Helen and Hurricane Milton, which struck Florida’s West Coast less than two weeks after Helen.

The New York Times I reported earlier Friday that although some former FEMA leaders agree with Trump that states should be responsible for their own disaster management, the states themselves are leaning toward more federal aid.

The Trump administration has yet to unveil any formal proposal to retool FEMA or federal disaster relief policy.

While he eliminates 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.