After years of selling baseless claims of voter fraud that President Donald Trump has regularly touted, a conservative activist has landed a prime place on the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The activist Gregg Phillips shot to fame after launching the narrative that tens of millions of unlawful votes had been forged within the 2016 election. His claims, made via the Texas-based nonprofit True the Vote, shortly caught hearth in right-wing media circles and had been cited by Trump, who used them to attempt to justify why he misplaced the favored vote.
Now, Phillips has been tapped to head FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery – a senior submit overseeing the deployment of federal assets within the instant aftermath of disasters – the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, confirmed in a press release to NCS.
Phillips, who says he has greater than 4 a long time of expertise in disasters and emergencies, has been a critic of FEMA. He traveled to North Carolina final 12 months to provide help within the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and posted on social media about FEMA’s “failure” in aiding hard-hit communities.
“This is probably the biggest failure I’ve ever seen,” he stated in a video posted to LinkedIn.
At that point, FEMA started heading off a barrage of false claims – many amplified by Trump and his allies – alleging the company discriminated towards Republicans and diverted catastrophe help to undocumented migrants, questionable narratives which have persevered all through Trump’s first 12 months in workplace.
NCS reached out to Phillips and FEMA for remark. The Handbasket was first to report particulars of the appointment.
Phillips is a longtime Republican operative and knowledge guide, having served as government director of the Mississippi GOP in addition to on the Mississippi Department of Human Services and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
After the 2016 election, Phillips rocketed into the highlight together with his unsubstantiated fraud claims, which had been touted by Trump. But Phillips and the crew at True the Vote refused to provide evidence – together with when pressed in a 2017 NCS interview.
“We believe in this stuff to my core, in my bones,” Phillips said on the time. “A lot of people are saying, even people on the Trump side, ‘Who cares? He won.’ Well, I care.”
True the Vote ramped up its hunt for voter fraud within the 2020 election, making sensational and unsubstantiated claims about poll stuffing in Georgia and different states.
In 2024, a Fulton County choose signed an order requiring the group to present proof for its claims after the Georgia secretary of state’s workplace issued a subpoena for it, in accordance to the Associated Press. The Georgia Election Board later dismissed a lawsuit to implement the subpoena as a result of the alleged whistleblower the group was counting on for the knowledge couldn’t be recognized.
His work has drawn scrutiny from media and watchdog teams. In 2022, Phillips lashed out, blaming “journalistic terrorists.”
His work was prominently featured in Dinesh D’Souza’s broadly criticized 2022 documentary “2000 Mules,” which claimed there was widespread voter fraud within the 2020 US presidential election involving “mules” delivering ballots to drop containers.
Phillips is now poised to help steer FEMA at a essential second, at a time when there are questions in regards to the company’s future and the administration’s priorities.
“He will support FEMA leadership as the agency advances reforms aligned with the direction set by President Trump and Secretary Noem, focused on clarifying federal responsibilities, strengthening coordination with states, and improving accountability in disaster operations,” a DHS spokesperson stated in a press release.
As affiliate administrator for the Office of Response and Recovery, Phillips will oversee the deployment of assets within the aftermath of disasters – selections that form the pace and effectiveness of lifesaving assist and the long-term restoration of communities hit by disaster. A senior FEMA official referred to as it the “second most important role in the agency behind the administrator.”
“This person will make decisions that determine whether people live or die. Whether we have search and rescue in the areas needed, whether we have the right federal partners activated, whether major highways are reopened, whether people get checks when their homes are destroyed,” one other high-ranking FEMA official in catastrophe response stated. “They can truly bring the full force of all the agencies in the federal government to help or they can abandon our fellow citizens in a time of need,” the official added, explaining that the appointment of Phillips implies the latter.
Phillips has been a vocal critic of FEMA. In a post this fall, he wrote, “I’ve seen the failures up close and personal, watching people suffer. I’ve seen the best of America’s contractors walk away in disgust over the inept FEMA contract managers.”
“It is almost always true that those with a Christ centered approach show up first and leave last bringing hearts, hands and supplies when darkness hits,” the submit continued. “FEMA has taken credit for their work — pushing DEI and ‘woke’ even into this program. The fails have been epic.”
Phillips additionally highlighted what he referred to as a “meaningful and productive call” with Trump and then-acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson, writing, “for the first time in decades, I am optimistic we have the beginning of the fix.”
FEMA itself has been battered by misinformation and conspiracy theories for greater than a 12 months, relationship again to the 2024 marketing campaign. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Trump falsely claimed on the marketing campaign path that the company was discriminating towards Republican areas and funneling catastrophe help to undocumented immigrants.
By January, the rhetoric escalated. Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose division oversees FEMA, vowed to get rid of the company altogether.
Since then, administration officers have portrayed FEMA as partisan, bloated, and in determined want of drastic reform and even elimination. “We are cleaning house at FEMA to make this dysfunctional agency work for the American people the way that it was intended,” Noem stated in September. Now, Phillips is poised to play a central function in that course of.
Later this week, the newly shaped FEMA Review Council – created by Trump and co-chaired by Noem – will vote on sweeping suggestions to reform the company, with the ultimate plan headed to the White House for approval.
This is occurring as local weather change fuels extra intense storms, creating more and more catastrophic circumstances for communities nationwide.
Many present and former FEMA officers say that reforming the company could possibly be a constructive step, however warn that efforts to dismantle it are placing American lives in danger.