Donald Trump to visit Western North Carolina to see the effects of Hurricane Helene

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina — President Donald Trump is set to visit North Carolina for the first time since being back in office.

He will tour areas in the western part of the state still damaged following Hurricane Helene. His visit will focus on the communities ongoing recovery efforts.

Trump will also visit southern California on Friday as the state continues to battle wildfires.

He has criticized former President Joe Biden for his administration’s response in North Carolina, and he’s showered disdain on California leaders for water policies that he falsely claimed worsened the recent blazes.

Trump is also considering overhauling the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some of his conservative allies have proposed reducing how much the agency reimburses states for handling floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and other calamities.

A month after Helene, North Carolina state lawmakers signed off on a measure to provide $604 million more toward Hurricane Helene’s recovery and relief and also directed some storm-affected counties.

In November, NC lawmakers passed a bill that would give more money to WNC recovery efforts, however, Senate Bill 382 weakened the power of now-Governor Josh Stein, the attorney general Jeff Jackson and the state Superintendent, Maurice Greene. Former Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bill and lawmakers voted to override it. It became law in December. Cooper and Stein have filed a lawsuit related to the bill.

Since taking office, Governor Josh Stein has visited the area and appointed a former Wake County Commissioner to head up the WNC recovery team.

Stein said in his inauguration speech that building Western North Carolina back is a main priority.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.