Trump claims FEMA is getting ‘in the way’ and pitches abolishing it during first interview since return to White House

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy President Donald Trump on Wednesday floated abolishing the federal agency charged with the response to all kinds of natural disasters and other emergencies across the nation, and leave the task of responding to emergencies up to individual state governments instead. Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity in his first television interview since he was sworn in for his second term on Monday, Trump repeated false claims made during the election by online activists who alleged that the Biden administration did not send federal resources to North Carolina after a pair of hurricanes hit the state last fall. “FEMA has not done their job for the last four years,” said Trump, who added that the agency, which has been part of the Department of Homeland Security since 2003, had been “working really well” before he left office. Trump told Hannity that FEMA should “be a whole big discussion very shortly,” and said he’d prefer ending the agency’s federal mission and makeindividual states responsible for dealing with natural disasters, terrorist attacks and other matters normally handled by the federal agency.