White House addresses FEMA acting director's 'jokes' about hurricane season
Acting Federal Emergency Management Agency Director David Richardson told staff in an all-hands meeting that he was unaware hurricane season had started, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
Hurricane season started on Sunday, June 1, and goes through Nov. 30. It is unclear if Richardson, who has led the agency since mid-May, was joking in the Monday meeting, but a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson argued he was.
When asked by reporters Tuesday during a White House press briefing whether President Donald Trump is "still comfortable" with Richardson following his remarks, press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed concerns and said FEMA is taking hurricane season "seriously, contrary to some of the reporting we have seen based on jokes that were made and leaks from meetings."
Reuters first reported on Richardson's comments.
Richardson's comments follow an internal review indicating FEMA is "not ready" for the 2025 hurricane season in mid-May.
The DHS spokesperson denied FEMA is unprepared, saying, "Despite meanspirited attempts to falsely frame a joke as policy, there is no uncertainty about what FEMA will be doing this Hurricane Season."
"FEMA is laser-focused on disaster response and protecting the American people," the spokesperson added.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed Richardson, posting on X that he is "unaware of why he hasn’t been fired yet."
"Trump's FEMA chief is incompetent," Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., added. "People will die."
The meeting was held Monday morning after Richardson had said he would update staff on a plan to tackle hurricane season.
"It's not a secret that under Secretary Noem and acting Administrator Richardson, FEMA is shifting from bloated, D.C.-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens," the spokesperson added. "The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades."
However, sources in the meeting said Richardson is sticking with the original plan, made during the Biden administration, in order to avoid getting in the way of FEMA's Review Council, which was established by President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Dan Stoneking, a former FEMA official and owner of Stoneking Strategic Communications, argued this reveals that the Trump administration believes its best chance at success this hurricane season is relying on the last administration's plan, rather than its own.
Still, Stoneking said the original plan was created with more funding and before thousands of employees departed FEMA since the Trump administration took over, which he said would "clearly necessitate changes in planning in order to be successful."
"This is not laser-focused. This is not empowering," he said. "It is nothing more than a preamble to a less efficient federal response that this administration has caused but will still erroneously and egregiously blame on their predecessors."
"You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time," he added.
Leavitt denied that the United States is ill-prepared to handle disasters, saying, "The president will deeply and thoughtfully consider any requests for federal aid that come to his desk."
