Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs President Donald Trump questioned the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s future in an interview on Wednesday, saying he’d prefer “the states take care of their own problems.”He made the comments in an exclusive interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.Why It MattersTrump has enacted sweeping changes across the federal government since taking office on Monday, including enabling law enforcement to crack down on migrants’ arrests, reportedly freezing the Justice Department’s civil rights division and seeking to end birthright citizenship.His comments about FEMA come as California battles a series of raging wildfires that have ravaged Los Angeles and Ventura counties, killing dozens of people and destroying thousands of homes and buildings.What To Know”FEMA is a whole another discussion, because all it does is complicate everything,” Trump said after saying that the California wildfires have “changed everything.””I will say that Los Angeles has changed everything because a lot of money is going to be necessary for Los Angeles and a lot of people on the other side want that to happen,” Trump began.”North Carolina, too,” Hannity said, referring to the hurricane and catastrophic flooding that ravaged the state last year, which North Carolina is still recovering from.”Well, they don’t care about North Carolina,” Trump countered. “The Democrats don’t care about North Carolina. What they’ve done with FEMA is so bad.””FEMA has not done their job for the last four years,” the president continued. “You know, I had FEMA working really well. We had hurricanes in Florida, we had Alabama, tornadoes, we had—but unless you have certain types of leadership, it’s really, it gets in the way.”Newsweek reached out to a White House spokesperson via email Wednesday night for comment.
U.S. President Donald Trump seen delivering his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States in the Rotunda of the US Capitol on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC.
U.S. President Donald Trump seen delivering his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States in the Rotunda of the US Capitol on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC.
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Trump went on to reiterate that FEMA “is going to be a whole big discussion” because he would “rather see the states take care of their own problems.””If they have a tornado some place and if they let that state—Oklahoma is very competent,” Trump said, before going on a tangent about how he won the state in the 2024 election.”If they get hit with a tornado or something, let Oklahoma fix it … and then the federal government can help them out with the money,” Trump said.The president went on to falsely claim Democrats “actually used FEMA not to help North Carolina.””That makes no sense–” Hannity began, before Trump cut him off.”So, I’m stopping, on Friday, I’m stopping in North Carolina,” the president said. “First stop.”What People Are SayingMike Nellis, a Democratic strategist and former adviser to Kamala Harris, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in part: “This would be awful, especially for smaller red states. He would need Congress to change the law, and I doubt the GOP would be reckless enough to do something so stupid. Then again…”Conservative media personality Nick Sortor said on X: “President Trump just BLASTED FEMA ‘FEMA is getting in the way of everything, and the Democrats actually used FEMA NOT to help North Carolina. On Friday, I’m stopping in North Carolina… because those people were treated very badly. We’re going to get that thing straightened out.’ THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!”FEMA in a press release in part, on January 12, 2025, in regard to the California wildfires: “In addition to helping individuals and families recover, FEMA is supporting the state and local governments by funding 100 percent of the cost of debris removal and lifesaving and life sustaining activities – including fire suppression efforts — for 180 days.The entire federal government is committed to supporting response activities in California and helping the community recover. FEMA is the lead federal coordinating agency for the state-led response and relies on the expertise of the federal interagency for this historic response and recovery mission.”What Happens NextIt is immediately unclear to Newsweek when Trump plans to hold discussions regarding FEMA’s future.Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said that he is unclear if he will be joining Trump’s tour of the wildfire destruction in Southern California during his visit on Friday, The Associated Press reported.
