Trump To Visit Disaster Zones In North Carolina And California On First Trip Of Second Term

President Donald Trump is heading to hurricane-battered western North Carolina and wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles on Friday, using the first trip of his second administration to tour areas where politics has clouded the response to deadly disasters.

The Republican president has criticized former President Joe Biden for his administration's response in North Carolina, and he's showered disdain on California leaders for water policies that he falsely claimed worsened the recent blazes.

Trump is also considering overhauling the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some of his conservative allies have proposed reducing how much the agency reimburses states for handling floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and other calamities.

The White House has asked California congressional members, including Democrats, to hold a roundtable at an airplane hanger in Santa Monica during Trump's visit, according to a person briefed on the plans who demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them.

Any meeting could be contentious. Trump has suggested using federal disaster assistance as a bargaining chip during unrelated legislative negotiations over government borrowing, or as leverage to persuade California to change its water policies.