Democrats say FEMA official who claims teleportation is unfit for role

Democrats told a House Homeland Security hearing that FEMA Associate Administrator Gregg Phillips is unfit to lead the agency’s Office of Response and Recovery, citing his public claims of having been teleported and past violent rhetoric.

FEMA appointed Phillips in December, and Democrats at the hearing called attention to his reported claims of teleportation, including to a Waffle House, his past statements about immigrants and what they described as violent language, according to lawmakers.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the committee’s ranking member, read a quote at the hearing that he said Phillips made about President Joe Biden: “I’d like to punch that (expletive) in the mouth right now. He deserves to die,” Thompson said. Thompson said Phillips was absent from the hearing because of an “emergency.” FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to NOTUS’ request for comment on his absence.

Rep. Tim Kennedy, D-N.Y., called Phillips “wildly unfit for his role as head of response and recovery” and said he wanted Phillips to appear before the committee in person to address election conspiracy theories, violent statements about Biden and “deeply troubling bigoted comments about immigrants,” Kennedy said.

Phillips was unexpectedly replaced on the witness list by FEMA external affairs associate Victoria Barton, who testified that the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund is at $3.6 billion and said the ongoing DHS shutdown has limited FEMA’s ability to provide some recovery services. “With hurricane season approaching, each day of this shutdown increases the risk that a catastrophic disaster could occur while FEMA’s capacity to respond and support recovery is diminished,” Barton said.

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