Trump threatens to withhold aid to Democrat-led California on US disaster zone visits

US President Donald Trump on Friday suggested scrapping the federal disaster agency FEMA and threatened to withhold aid from wildfire-ravaged California if the state's Democratic leadership did not change its voting laws.

US President Donald Trump visited disaster zones in North Carolina and California on Friday, using his first trip since his return to office to turn emergency aid into a political cudgel.

Trump said he would sign an order that could scrap the federal disaster agency, stepping up his effort to exert presidential power over the levers of government and to decide which states get money from Washington.

The Republican billionaire also threatened to withhold funding for Democratic-led California – a long-term target of his ire – to deal with devastating wildfires if it does not follow his orders.

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The visit came as the White House said that Trump's promised operation to expel millions of undocumented migrants had begun with the launch of deportation flights on military aircraft.

Trump said he would be "signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA."

"We're going to recommend that FEMA go away."

'Greatest president'

(AFP)


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