need to know
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President Donald Trump has responded to a bizarre claim made by one of his top FEMA officials
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Greg Phillips, a far-right conspiracy theorist who now heads FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, has previously claimed to have teleported several times, including once to a Waffle House 50 miles away.
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Asked about Phillips’ statement, Trump said, “It sounds a little weird,” but I don’t know anything about teleporting or him.
President Donald Trump has responded to a bizarre claim made by one of his top officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Greg Phillips, a far-right conspiracy theorist who had previously been cited by the president for making baseless claims about fraud in the 2020 presidential election, was tapped in December 2025 to lead FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery.
However, months ago, Phillips made some eyebrow-raising statements about her in front Podcast with Kathryn Engelbrecht. He claimed that he had teleported several times in the past, including once to a Waffle House “like, 50 miles away from where I was.”
Trump was asked about Phillips’ now-viral comments in a brief phone interview with CNN last week. “What does teleport mean? Was he kidding?” the president, 79, asked.
The interviewer said Phillips, 65, wasn’t kidding. In fact, after the initial comments made headlines, he doubled down on the claim, posting on Truth Social, “God will not be mocked. People can debate me. Question me. Even mock what they don’t understand… I know what I’ve been through. I know who I serve.”
In response, Trump admitted, “I don’t know anything about teleporting. … This is going to sound a little weird, but I don’t know anything about teleporting or anything about him, but I’m going to find out about it right now.”
Despite the president’s claim that he “knows nothing” about Phillips, the former human services official in Mississippi and Texas theoretically passed extensive testing to earn the senior position at FEMA, which previously falls under the Department of Homeland Security under Kristy Nome. The US Office of Personnel Management maintains vetting requirements for federal employees on its website.
“The testing process is critical to maintaining public confidence in the federal workforce,” it reads. “It usually involves a background investigation to decide whether a person can be trusted. The depth of the background investigation increases with the level of responsibility and the position requires.”
Greg Phillips claims he once teleported to a Waffle House 50 miles away
Credit: Al Drago/Getty; GIANRIGO MARLETA/AFP via Getty
As one of the FEMA officials, Phillips’ appointment was an important hire last winter, when blizzards and major storms caused problems across the country. His outlandish claims and background in peddling election conspiracy theories have since raised concerns about how effective he would be in a non-partisan crisis management role.
In the same episode of January 2025 in frontAccording to CNN, Phillips also threatened violence against former President Joe Biden, saying, “I want to punch that b—— in the mouth right now. He’s a bad, ——, depraved human being, and he deserves to die. And I hope he does.”
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Phillips has previously worked with True the Vote, a nonprofit founded by Engelbrecht, which focuses on “protecting the election process and empowering citizens to protect their votes from fraud.”
They were featured in Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary After 2022. 2,000 mules, Claiming to have uncovered widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Those claims were later refuted by rulings in more than 50 lawsuits brought by Trump and his supporters.
A CNN KFile review of Phillips found “deleted posts … directing deeply personal attacks on Democratic officials and spreading conspiracy theories after President Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election.”
A FEMA spokesperson responded to CNN with a statement about their claim about Phillips, “It’s so absurd it’s not worth accepting.”
“DHS, FEMA, and Mr. Phillips are focused on the critical mission of emergency management and ensuring the safety of the American people,” a FEMA spokesperson said. “Many of the comments quoted are taken out of context or made in the context of personal, casual, fun, and somewhat spiritual discussions with the cancer survivor; in a private capacity prior to his current role.”
Read the original article on People
