President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that states should “take care of their own problems” rather than rely on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help them recover after natural disasters.
Trump spoke to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday in a wide-ranging interview following his inauguration and slate of executive actions to reshape the federal government. The president spoke about the wildfires in Los Angeles that have destroyed thousands of homes, saying the devastation and calls for federal support demonstrated issues with FEMA while musing about unspecified changes to the agency.
“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 said. “FEMA has not done their job for the last four years. You know, I had FEMA working really well. We had hurricanes in Florida, we had Alabama, tornadoes. But unless you have certain types of leadership … it gets in the way.”
“And FEMA is gonna be a whole big discussion very shortly because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems,” the president went on.
Some top Republicans, Trump included, have said federal aid to California should come with strings attached, unleashing broadsides against local Democrats and the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom (D). It’s unclear, however, whether those plans would gain steam among the broader GOP, which holds just a thin majority in Congress.
Trump’s comments came while yet another massive wildfire was threatening homes in Los Angeles County. The fast-moving Hughes fire broke out on Wednesday morning, quickly growing to more than 9,000 acres.
About 50,000 people were under evacuation orders or warnings due to the blaze.
Trump said he doesn’t believe California should get “anything” until local officials “let water flow” from the state’s northern regions to help fight the blazes. The remark is based on false claims, as Los Angeles does not rely on water from Northern California.
Trump is set to visit the state in the coming days to survey the wildfire damage.