Trump Threatens To Get Rid of FEMA During Visit to North Carolina—and Says He’ll ‘Permanently Fix’ Wildfire-Stricken Los Angeles

President Donald Trump said on Friday he was considering “getting rid of FEMA” as he was touring parts of North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene, before jetting off to California to survey the wildfire damage.

“We’re going to recommend that FEMA go away, and we pay directly,” Trump, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, told reporters during a briefing in Asheville, NC. “We pay a percentage to the state. But the state should fix this.

“FEMA has been a very big disappointment. They cost a tremendous amount of money. It’s very bureaucratic, and it’s very slow. Other than that, we’re very happy with them,” he said. 

Donald Trump, who has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, which struck North Carolina in September 2024, said that he would like to see states assume more responsibility in the aftermath of natural disasters, rather than the federal government.

“I’d like to see the states take care of disasters,” he said. “Let the state take care of the tornadoes and the hurricanes and all of the other things that happen.”

Currently, FEMA steps in to help when state leaders ask for a presidential emergency declaration, according to the Associated Press. The agency covers some of the costs associated with debris cleanup and also provides financial aid to victims.

The next stop on Trump’s two-state trip—his first since taking the oath of office on Monday—was Los Angeles, where thousands of homes were consumed by wildfires that continue to smolder more than two weeks after first igniting. 

The Palisades fire was 77% contained as of Friday, according to Cal Fire. The Eaton fire, which scorched a path of destruction through Altadena, CA, was 95% contained. 

Thousands of emergency crews in the state were also busy fighting a pair of more recent blazes, including the Border 2 fire in San Diego and the Laguna fire in Ventura County. 

Overall, the wildfires have incinerated more than 55,000 acres of land throughout the Golden State and killed at least 28 people.

During the stop, Gov. Gavin Newsom told Trump that “we’re going to need your support, we’re going to need your help.

“You were there for us during COVID, I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations that we’ll be able to work together to get this speedy recovery,” he added.

Trump in return vowed that “we’re going to get it done.”

“Tremendous numbers of lives have been affected, a lot of real estate has been affected. Nobody’s probably ever seen anything like this, you can almost say since the Second World War, when you think of it. Nothing like this has happened, and we’re going to get it fixed—we’re going to get it permanently fixed, so it can’t happen again,” Trump said.

“We’ll get it worked out,” he added.

Conditions placed on California aid

But before touching down in L.A., Trump told the press that any federal aid to California would come with strings attached aimed at forcing the blue state to change its water policies and adopt voter ID requirements.

“I want two things,” the Republican president said. “I want voter ID for the people of California, and they all want it right now. You have no, you don’t have voter ID. People want to have voter identification. You want to have proof of citizenship. Ideally, you have one-day voting. But I just want voter ID as a start,” Trump told reporters upon landing in North Carolina.

“And I want the water to be released, and they’re going to get a lot of help from the U.S.,” he added.

Trump’s remarks on Friday about his intent to condition the disaster aid to California echoed his previous comments to Sean Hannity during his first televised Oval Office interview, in which the president threatened to withhold financial assistance until the state overhauls its water management system. 

“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” he said.

Since the outbreak of the wildfires, Trump has claimed without evidence that California’s fish conservation efforts have resulted in fire hydrants running dry in Los Angeles.  

California officials have insisted that protecting the natural habitat of the delta smelt has had nothing to do with the scarcity of water in Los Angeles County.

Democrats have been outraged by Trump’s rhetoric, accusing the president of trying to score political points and extract concessions from California as the disaster-stricken state is facing a monumental rebuilding project. 

The reconstruction costs associated with just the Palisades and Eaton fires have been estimated by CoreLogic to be around $13.1 billion.