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Trump Tours North Carolina Hurricane Damage. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired January 24, 2025 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Because the state didn't send enough water down from Northern California to L.A., instead was doing environmental protection, like protecting the delta smelt.

[11:30:05]

I have talked to a bunch of experts in California water policy, complicated stuff, but, on this subject, it's not complicated. Those two things have nothing to do with each other. If you look at California water data, it's available online, you will see that there is no shortage of water in the Los Angeles area.

What we saw early in the firefighting battle at Pacific Palisades was a local supply issue, a serious issue, no doubt, related to an empty reservoir that had been shut down for repairs and the geography of the terrain. We had water tanks, we had hillsides, we had extreme demand from firefighters.

But that issue, the reason the hydrants were dry was not that there was too much water protecting a fish in Northern California, just two entirely separate issues, nothing to do with each other.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: What about Trump's criticism of FEMA? Again, as we have been saying, FEMA deserves scrutiny, relevant questions.

DALE: Right.

BROWN: But he's insinuating that under Biden they just basically did nothing.

DALE: We have had false claim after false claim from President Trump about FEMA's response in North Carolina.

He said they have not provided any assistance at all. Not true. It's more than $300 million in individual assistance so far to North Carolina residents. He's claimed that FEMA improperly diverted all of its funding away from North Carolina to illegal immigrants.

Not true. Those are two separate programs, tens of billions for disaster relief, and Congress appropriated a separate smaller pot of money, about $650 million, for a program to house undocumented people, no improper diversion, totally separate.

He said that people in North Carolina can only get $750 in aid while people in Ukraine, foreign countries get tens of billions. In fact, that $750 was merely the immediate emergency assistance they're eligible for. People who lost their homes, for example, are eligible for up to $42,500 in additional housing assistance.

So, again, he's entitled to criticize FEMA. We have heard local residents criticize FEMA, but these specific claims for President Trump are just not true.

BROWN: They false. All right, Daniel Dale, thank you.

Let's go right to the ground. Let's go to residents there in North Carolina to hear from them what their experience has been with Trump's North Carolina visit under way. My guest has a clear message for the president, as well as the insurance industry and the federal government, award-winning chef, restaurant owner, author and Asheville resident Katie Button joins us now.

First of all, Katie, I just want to lay out your experience so far. As a small restaurant owner, what has your experience been after the hurricane came through and with FEMA, with supports on the federal level? Do you think that they have done enough?

KATIE BUTTON, NORTH CAROLINA BUSINESS OWNER: I mean, I would say support for individuals is there. And FEMA has shown up. I mean, checks have been written.

And because FEMA is a structure that already exists, it actually is, like, a fast way for individuals to be able to apply for aid and then quickly start seeing money in their mailbox. And, I mean, that happened for lots of the community members. Everyone that I speak to has nothing but good things to say about FEMA, despite, obviously, there are also criticisms.

The business side, however, has been incredibly challenging. And the reason is because there is a failure of our system for support. There's an entire lack of support for small businesses in the wake of a natural disaster.

(CROSSTALK)

BUTTON: Having finished -- yes.

BROWN: Oh, go ahead. I thought you were done. Go ahead.

BUTTON: No, I was just going to say that, like in Asheville, what we have seen in Western North Carolina, I mean, the, there are two avenues, really.

One, we all pay for business interruption insurance, which is there. And the reason we pay for it, small businesses pay for it is because it's -- if our businesses close, that is financially catastrophic. And so we pay for business interruption insurance for exactly that, for the idea that, if we close, we would be protected.

And what all of us are finding out in Western North Carolina, and I now, I'm sure, in California, is that these policies are written in such a way with 200 pages afterwards of fine print that feels like it takes out every single use case of actually using the policy.

And then the only other option as a small business is to apply for a loan through the SBA in their Economic Injury Disaster Loans program. And I mean, we just -- small businesses cannot take on more debt. I would say the United States economy is built on small businesses.

American communities are built on small businesses, where mom-and-pop shops -- I mean, I opened my restaurant in 2011 with my parents and my business partner. And to be in a situation where there is no aid for us after a disaster, when we're facing such economic devastation, is really disheartening.

BROWN: So then what would your president -- what would your message be to President Trump, who is there on the ground today touring the disaster in North Carolina, about what you need as a small business owner?

BUTTON: We need support in the form of grants, I mean, two options, right, or both, one support in the form of grants for businesses, a federal program that is set up that releases money fast in these situations to small businesses, because, oftentimes, they can't make it a month, two months, three months without income.

[11:35:18]

And then the other thing I would ask is reform of the insurance industry and how these policies are written. At the very least, I would love, as a business and business owners would love to be able to buy a policy at face value for what it says that it's for, business interruption, and then when you actually have business interruption be able to file for that claim and receive the funds that you think you deserve.

These are expensive policies, and we have been paying for them for years. And it's -- we feel lost and left out. And the thing about small businesses in communities and why they are the backbone of American communities is because every dollar that runs in our door -- comes through our door goes right back out to the workers who live in the area, our suppliers, our vendors, our local farmers.

These are dollars that flow and support the entire economy of Western North Carolina. And so when one...

BROWN: All right.

BUTTON: Yes. Thank you.

BROWN: Oh, go ahead. No, finish your point.

I just heard that President Trump is speaking again about North Carolina. But I want to hear what you have to say.

BUTTON: My last point was just that when one -- when even one restaurant fails, the ripple effect through our economy, through our vendors, suppliers, our work force is like a catastrophic snowball. We need support. BROWN: All right, really important message from you on the ground

there.

Katie Button, thank you.

Let's listen in to President Trump.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Take a quick look around. First, we wanted to do this. I want to say that we're very disappointed in FEMA.

Your new governor, it's not his fault. He's brand-new to the whole situation. But we're going to work together with the governor. We're going to work together with the senators. But, really, we're going to work a lot with your congressmen, especially the three that are in the area, and Michael Whatley.

And I'd like to put Michael in charge of making sure everything goes well. And Franklin Graham has been unbelievable. We have made a big contribution to Franklin, and we will continue to do so. But I have been hearing nothing but praise for the job that Samaritan's Purse has done with Franklin. And we appreciate it. Where is Franklin?

He's around here someplace. And that good-looking guy. He's always been a good-looking guy. His father was a good-looking guy, too, I will tell you. We loved his father, right? I saw his father in the latter years, and I said, well, he doesn't have long to go. He was having a hard time, and he lived about three, four years after that, right?

He was -- they call -- they say it was good stock. He had the ultimate good stock. But I want to thank you, Franklin. You were -- you have been fantastic here. And everywhere he goes, he's always the first one I see, because people don't realize it, how good it is.

A lot of people, they go, well, maybe it's for the people that he's got. And you guys know because you're here, but the people that he's got have done amazing work.

So I just want to thank everybody. We're going to get over and take a look. We will say a few words. I want to just -- I do want to introduce some of the people that we have. And our first lady, we will start with our first lady. She wanted to be here because of North Carolina. And then I said, well, you can do that, but you're going to have to come to California too. And she said, that's OK.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: And we got to fix that one up too. That's -- did you ever see anything like that one? It's -- who would /have thought that could have happened?

So, Governor Josh Stein, thank you very much. We appreciate it. And we're going to have a very long and good relationship. Representatives, maybe stand up, if you would, so we -- press can see. Representatives Chuck Edwards, Chuck, thank you. Thank you, Chuck. Tim Moore. Virginia. You know Virginia Foxx, a legend. She is such a powerful woman. Pat Harrigan. Pat, thank you very much. Your agriculture commissioner, who I hear is excellent, Steve Troxler.

Steve, thank you very much. Good job, Steve. You have got plenty to do, right? More than you ever thought. North Carolina Speaker Destin Hall. Thank you, Destin. Thanks, Destin. Very good.

House Majority Leader Brenden Jones. Brenden, thank you very much. We're making progress, Brenden. State Representatives Dudley Greene, Karl Gillespie, thank you very much, fellows. Good. Good. Thank you very much.

State Senators Kevin Corbin, Warren Daniel. Thank you. Thank you very much, Kevin, Warren. And County Commissioner Jennifer Best. Thank you, Jennifer. Thank you.

[11:40:05]

So, Hurricane Helene was one of the worst natural disasters in American history. It was far worse than it was even billed. I have never seen such water damage. There was largely water damage, wind damage, but water damage nobody has ever seen. I have been here, as you know, numerous times, but now I'm here in a position where we can do something, meaning I have been in office for four days.

And I wanted to come sooner, but actually they had a little problem with getting logistically in here, but I would have been here even sooner; 104 -- 104 North Carolinians have -- at least have lost their lives. Is that now a fairly firm number or are they still finding people?

Do you know? It's -- what do you think? They're still finding people? Pretty much OK? It's a lot of people; 104 people lost their lives; 73,000 homes were severely damaged or destroyed.

And I will tell you, I have been to a lot of them, and this was like lots of hurricanes in one. I have never seen such damage done by water. And the water came, it was violent, and it left, and there was like nothing left. It's really pretty amazing.

At one point, half of the emergency calls to FEMA went unanswered. That's real bad. FEMA was not doing their job. The city of Asheville went without running water for two months. A whistle-blower testified that some FEMA employees refused to help people who displayed Trump signs on their properties. I think that's true, isn't it? I read that.

That's not nice. That's not too nice, is it? But whoever those property people were, thank you very much. Michael, is that true? That's not good, huh? About the property owners. You put a Trump sign on, that they wouldn't help, FEMA.

Earlier this year, FEMA kicked 2000 North Carolinians out of their temporary housing into below-freezing temperatures. What was that all about? Is that -- you know about that? What happened? Tell me. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had an incompetent administration under Biden,

and we had a disaster, and we call it the disaster after the disaster. That was the FEMA response.

TRUMP: You had nothing but disaster since then. It doesn't matter at this point. Biden did a bad job.

Some residents still don't have hot water, drinking water, or anything else. And many of them don't have quarters. They don't have anything. They got a stipend for what they lost. And we're going to take care of it. This is totally unacceptable. And I will be taking strong action to get North Carolina the support that you need to quickly recover and rebuild.

We're working on it very hard. And I think if Michael Whatley does half as good a job for North Carolina as he did for my campaign, we will be very happy. Him and Laura were a very powerful team. So you think you can handle it, Michael? I don't know. I'm not sure, Michael. I think this is maybe in many ways easier, OK? Maybe easier.

But you're going to lead the team. Do you want to say who the congressman are that you want to appoint? Do you want to introduce them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have Virginia Foxx, Chuck Edwards, and Tim Moore, whose districts are encompassed here.

TRUMP: And they are the districts that were most severely impacted, right? You were affected then?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just lost my (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Really?

I will also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA is not good. I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to go, and whether it's a Democrat or Republican governor, you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA.

And then FEMA gets here and they don't know the area. They have never been to the area and they want to give you rules that you have never heard about. They want to bring people that aren't as good as the people you already have. And FEMA's turned out to be a disaster.

And you could go back a long way. You could go back to Louisiana. You could go back to some of the things that took place in Texas. It turns out to be the state that ends up doing the work. It just complicates it. I think we're going to recommend that FEMA go away and we pay directly. We pay a percentage to the state.

But the state should fix this. If the state did this from the beginning, it would have been a lot better situation. I think you guys agree with that, right? So I just want to tell that -- say that Asheville -- I know it well.

It's a great place. So we're going to have it be a great place again. That was the one that was most severely affected. But North Carolina is going to come back bigger, better, stronger than ever before.

And you're going to be very thankful. And you have already seen -- I know that it really began four days ago, but you have already seen more action than you have in the last three months. And we're going to get it together.

[11:45:02]

We're informing the Army Corps of Engineers to get going, because you have a lot of river breaks and a lot of areas that you're going to need some pretty big work. And they're on their way. They're going to be working very -- much harder than they have been working in the past, and we're going to take care of it.

Any questions from the press of any of the congressmen, governor, anybody?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: 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, OK?

And I think it's -- I think, when there's a problem with a state, I think that that problem should be taken care of by the state. That's what we have states for. They take care of problems. And a governor can handle something very quickly.

You know, one of the things I have noticed, because I have been doing this for a while, and we had a pretty good FEMA, but I also noticed that when they come, they end up in arguments, and they're fighting all the time over who does what. It's just not a good system. This system is so beautifully designed over 250 years, approximately, you know, and we will soon be celebrating the 250th year.

It's going to be a very big celebration. But it's been designed very well, and we're going to leave it that way. When North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, when -- everybody knows the governor of Tennessee, I think, everybody? Do you know everybody here, pretty much? I never thought of it, but you're right over the ridge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right over the ridge.

TRUMP: So you're here to help. That's great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people in this region, including Tennessee, the people of Appalachia are grateful that you are here and that you haven't forgotten them. There are other disasters, but this one was enormous for both North Carolina and Tennessee, so thank you.

TRUMP: You know, I have seen a lot of disasters. And this is -- when I came -- I came here right after the day after. And when I came here, I couldn't believe it, actually. I couldn't believe the damage.

And I have seen a lot of them. This was more like a tornado than it was what we witnessed. So we're going to get it very much taken care of. Good job. That's nice that you came. And so you call it right -- you're over the ridge, right, Tennessee?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I like Tennessee too. Let's see, where did I get more votes, Tennessee or North Carolina? I hate to tell you, North Carolina, it was Tennessee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's one of the counties in this disaster that had 88 percent for you, so...

TRUMP: Eighty-eight percent, yes, that's -- the people are just incredible people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TRUMP: So do you have any questions, press?

QUESTION: Mr. President, you talked about conditions being placed on a to California (INAUDIBLE) and the like. Are there any conditions that you're going to put on aid to North Carolina?

TRUMP: We're going to do a lot for North Carolina. They have been very slow. I don't know why it's been so bad. This has been one of the worst I have seen.

Katrina, of course, was something that -- obviously, that was a long time ago, that was not good. But this has been very slow. I don't know if that was for political reasons, because they lost the state. Biden lost the state. Maybe he felt he doesn't care. Maybe there were other reasons. I don't know.

But this has been very slow. By any standard, this has been very slow. And we're going to make up for lost time.

QUESTION: But no about conditions? You're going to push for aid just full stop?

TRUMP: Well, in California, I have a condition. In California, we want them to have voter I.D. so that people have a voice, because right now the people don't have a voice because you don't know who's voting.

And it's very corrupt. And we also want them to release the water. If they released the water, they wouldn't have had a problem, if they released the water when I told them to, because I told them to do it seven years ago. If they would have done it, you wouldn't have had the problem that you had.

You might not have even had a fire. So -- but here I don't have that. It's a different thing. You got hit by a storm. The people are incredible. They worked really well. Franklin was fantastic. And other groups -- by the way, other groups came in that were also fantastic. And other states came in. Tennessee and a couple of others came in, and they really helped.

That's the way it's supposed to be. No, this is a different kind of a thing.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: About what?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: I haven't decided. I have to see what it is.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: I don't know. I was told that Schiff was going to travel with us to California. I wasn't thrilled, to be honest with you. And I saw him last night on television. It looks like he got hit with a baseball bat or something. What happened to him?

Something happened to him. It looked like he had hit. It looked like he got beat around.

[11:50:06]

But I will ask Karoline to find out what happened to him. No, if he wanted to come out, I would have done that. But I don't know. Somebody said that he wanted to come on the plane, but I think he's staying back for the votes. There's some pretty good votes going on.

Yes.

QUESTION: Mr. President, what is your timeline for getting rid of FEMA?

TRUMP: I would -- for the -- for this one, for this one?

QUESTION: You just talked about possible getting rid of FEMA. What timeline are you looking at? And how would you do that?

TRUMP: Well, we're looking here. Here, you're talking about to start. We're going to start immediately, timeline. And to finish, it's going to be a period of time. People are also rebuilding their houses.

How long does it take to build a house, right? Takes a time. And I want them to build houses bigger, better, nicer than they had before so they can have -- at least they get something out of this disaster. This was a real disaster. No, timeline will be fast. In terms of infrastructure, I think very fast.

I want to thank Elon because Elon was able to get us communication systems, as you know, Starlink. We had no communication. The first day I got here, I was asked by one of the people, one of the really great representatives, professionals, that is there any way you could get Starlink here, because they had no communication whatsoever. And I called up Elon Musk and he had hundreds of units brought here,

like, brought immediately. And it's hard to get. They couldn't get them before. And that made a lot of difference. I think it saved a lot of lives, actually.

Yes, infrastructure-wise, we will do it quickly.

QUESTION: Sir, can you just talk about how long you think it might take to get rid of FEMA? What's the timeline on that, if you're going to roll it back?

TRUMP: I would say, look, as far as I'm concerned, I'm not really thinking about FEMA right now here. I'm thinking about Michael Whatley and I'm thinking about the three congresspeople that you just heard from and also the other people in Congress and they will be working with the governor. They will be working with the governor.

So that's what I see.

QUESTION: To change the subject real quickly, the Laken Riley Act was signed by Mike -- Speaker Johnson yesterday, right? When do you anticipate you could sign that in the Oval Office?

TRUMP: Well, we're honored by that. Laken Riley, I was there at the time and we had a big meeting with the parents right after that horrible thing took place.

And we have an act. You all know what that act represents. And it was a bipartisan bill. Many Democrats signed on to it. That's something that is a tribute to Laken, a beautiful young lady who was killed viciously by an illegal alien. And we passed a very powerful bill, and it was just approved, and we will have a ceremony some time very shortly.

I will be signing it. In other words, if you're asking, I will definitely be signing it. OK?

Yes?

QUESTION: Mr. President, the security detail for Anthony Fauci was terminated last night, and I'm wondering if you have any comment about that.

TRUMP: About what?

QUESTION: The security detail for Anthony Fauci was terminated last night, sir. Do you have a comment?

TRUMP: No, I think, when you work for government, at some point, your security detail comes off, and you can't have them forever. So I think it's very standard. If it would be -- for somebody else, you wouldn't be asking the question. The question is very fair.

But you work for government. We took some off other people too. But you can't have a security detail for the rest of your life because you work for government. QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Yes, we will see what happens.

QUESTION: Would you feel partially responsible if something were to happen to, say, Dr. Fauci or John Bolton?

TRUMP: No. No.

You know, they all made a lot of money. They can hire their own security too. All the people you're talking about, they can go out. I can give them some good numbers of very good security people. They can hire their own security. They all made a lot of money. Fauci made a lot of money. They all did.

So, if they felt that strongly, I think that -- certainly, I would not take responsibility.

QUESTION: North Carolina is a state that relies on trade and manufacturing. Are you going to have an announcement on new tariffs coming soon? Is there a timeline now?

TRUMP: Yes, the tariffs are going to make our country rich. We're going to be a rich, rich country very soon. Tariffs are going to make it rich and competence. We have common sense, competence and tariffs. The word tariff is one of the most beautiful words in the dictionary.

QUESTION: Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary of the United Kingdom, said that there's an even trade between the U.S. and the U.K., so they shouldn't have tariffs. Does trade imbalances or a balanced trade affect tariffs and your decisions?

TRUMP: Yes, unbalanced and balanced and also deficits. Like, with Canada, we lose $200 billion a year with Canada. That's because we allow them to make cars. We allow them to take lumber. We don't need their cars. We don't need their lumber. We don't need their food products, because we make the same products right on the other side of the border.

[11:55:08]

It's sort of crazy. So we have just allowed that. Bad management has allowed it over the last four years in particular to become very imbalanced. And I said to -- I call him Governor Trudeau, but he's Prime Minister Trudeau, when he was prime minister.

I asked him, why would we do that? Why? And he was unable to give me an answer. He said, I don't know. And I said, do you think it's fair that we're paying $200 billion to keep Canada going? And what would happen -- I said, I asked him, what would happen if we didn't do that, if we didn't subsidize Canada? He said, we'd be a failed nation.

And I said, then you should be a state, because why are we paying all of that money to Canada, when we could use it ourselves, right? So we take care of their military. You know, we ordered -- we're going to order about 40 Coast Guard big icebreakers, big ones. And all of a sudden, Canada wants a piece of the deal. I say, why are we doing that?

I mean, I like doing that if they're a state, but I don't like doing that if they're a nation. Also, they have been very nasty to us on trade. Historically, Canada has been very, very bad to us, very unfair to us on trade. So we will see how it all works out.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I would love to see Canada be the 51st state. The Canadian citizens, if that happened, would get a very big tax cut, tremendous tax cut, because they're very highly taxed. And you wouldn't have to worry about military. You wouldn't have to worry about many of the things.

You would have better health coverage. You would have much better health coverage. So I think the people of Canada would like it if it's explained. But just to start off, they'd have a very -- they'd have a massive tax cut and they'd have a lot more business, because then we would let business go to Canada routinely and there'd be no tariffs.

If we did that, there'd be no tariffs.

QUESTION: So, the United Kingdom might be in a better spot, then?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Reverend Franklin Graham has been a great asset to the state. Talk a little bit about the way Samaritan Purse has helped North Carolina.

TRUMP: Yes, say it once again the first...

QUESTION: Reverend Franklin Graham has been a big part of Samaritan Purse And their aid to North Carolina. Just want to get your thoughts on that.

TRUMP: Well, Franklin Graham has been a big asset to the state. His father was a big asset to the state, to the country, both of them.

I just think this. I think Franklin and other people that are doing what Franklin have done, but I have known Franklin so long. He was at the inauguration. He made a speech, beautiful speech, beautiful prayer. And just he does a great job.

And we gave -- we made a big donation and it was money well spent. Sometimes you make donations, it's not well spent. He's done a great job here. He's done a really great job.

So I want to thank you. We're going to the site now, and one of the sites. And we will -- I think you will -- for those that haven't seen it, you won't even believe it. But not enough work was done. We will get it done fast. And I can speak for the Republican congressmen.

We're going to knock it out, right? We're going to knock it out. And I think we take it very personally, because it was -- North Carolina was very unfairly treated, very, very unfairly treated. And it was obvious. It was too obvious. And we're going to make up for lost time.

So thank you to the people of North Carolina. Thank you, everybody.

BROWN: All right. You just heard President Trump speak again there on the ground ahead of his tour of Helene storm damage in North Carolina, taking questions from reporters.

He touched on several different issues. And he said outright -- he'd been hinting at this, but said outright that he would consider getting rid of FEMA all together. He said the decision of whether or not to keep FEMA would happen fast. He complained about FEMA and saying it was too slow and bureaucratic.

We have heard those complaints previously from him. So that is certainly news. And he also said on the ground there that disaster aid would come through us, seemingly to indicate the White House, instead of FEMA, would manage disaster aid. He said that states should handle their own problems more so.

So that is some news there from President Trump. And he also talked about conditioning aid as well, even to California, but not to North Carolina, it seemed like he was saying, to North Carolina. He said the condition should be voter I.D. and water to be released in order for them to get aid. Governor Newsom has said no water is being held, that there were same water levels under the Trump era policies as well.

So, lots of news coming from him, and also talked about Anthony Fauci and his security detail being pulled, saying he can't have it forever. And he said that, if anything happened to the people that has had their security detail pulled under his administration, that he wouldn't feel any responsibility.

So, there are some of the headlines coming out of that press conference with President Trump.

Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Pamela Brown. You can follow me on Instagram, TikTok and X @PamelaBrownCNN.

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