President Donald Trump appeared confused Tuesday when he was told that one of his FEMA officials had claimed he teleported to a Waffle House 50 miles away.
Trump was speaking to CNN when he was asked about Gregg Phillips’ claim last month that he had somehow traveled to the restaurant in Georgia.
“What does teleport mean? Was he kidding?” the president said, before being told Phillips had not been kidding. “I don’t know anything about teleporting…It just sounds a little strange, but I know nothing about teleporting or him, but I’ll find out about it right now.”
Phillips, who leads the federal government’s disaster response unit at FEMA, has defended his claims, which he first made on a podcast in January 2025. In a post on social media, he said, “Haters gonna hate,” per CNN.
A former top health official in Texas, Phillips was appointed to lead FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery in December, a department with over 1,000 employees. Before his appointment, Phillips was known to make other uncorroborated claims, including about election fraud.
Newsweek reached out to FEMA and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, for comment via email on Tuesday morning.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
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