Overview
- Gregg Phillips, appointed in December to lead FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, said on a January 2025 podcast that he was suddenly transported 50 miles to a Waffle House in Rome, Georgia.
- On the Outward Podcast he described the event as frightening and said, “Teleporting is no fun,” urging listeners to “go with the ride.”
- Recent reporting resurfaced those remarks and linked them to Phillips’ past election-fraud claims and inflammatory comments that critics say undercut his credibility.
- He was slated to appear before the House Homeland Security Committee but withdrew at the last minute, drawing rebukes that included Rep. Tim Kennedy calling him “wildly unfit” for the role.
- FEMA spokespeople and supporters have defended him as a private individual and pointed to his disaster work, while oversight efforts continue given his office’s control over search-and-rescue coordination, infrastructure restoration, and recovery aid.