FEMA official who claimed he teleported to Waffle House ousted from agency, sources say
A top FEMA official who had drawn scrutiny for bizarre past remarks — including claiming he teleported to a Waffle House — has been pushed out of the agency, four sources tell CNN.
White House officials appointed Gregg Phillips in December to lead FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, one of the agency’s most consequential leadership roles, despite his history of promoting election conspiracy theories, particularly in the aftermath of the 2020 election. He came under national scrutiny in March after CNN reported on a cache of outlandish comments from his appearances on right-wing podcasts, including the teleportation claim.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, confirmed Thursday that Phillips is leaving the agency, saying he is taking leave for personal reasons. But sources tell CNN the departure was not voluntary: New DHS leadership had grown weary of the embarrassment surrounding Phillips’ public image and of his periodic clashes with the department’s other leaders.
Even so, Phillips had won over some career FEMA officials. When he arrived, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her de facto chief of staff Corey Lewandowski were taking aggressive steps to rein in FEMA, shrink the agency and bottleneck funding.
FEMA officials said Phillips stood out because he was willing to resist moves that would potentially hobble the agency’s work.
The Washington Post first reported Phillips’ departure.
CNN previously reported that Phillips described multiple incidents in which he said he had been physically teleported, including one in which he said he suddenly found himself at a Waffle House roughly 50 miles from where he had been moments earlier.
He later defended those remarks publicly, saying they reflected genuine spiritual experiences and citing biblical examples of supernatural transportation writing in one comment, “haters gonna hate.”
President Donald Trump later told CNN that Phillips’ claims “sounds a little strange” and said he would look into the matter: “I know nothing about teleporting or him, but I’ll find out about it right now.”
CNN also previously reported that Phillips had a long record of inflammatory public statements before joining FEMA, including violent rhetoric directed at political opponents, repeated promotion of false election fraud claims, and comments warning that migrants were coming to kill Americans while urging podcast listeners to arm themselves.
https://www.newschannel5.com/us-new...fle-house-ousted-from-agency-sources-say
