EXCLUSIVE – JD Vance is “fulfilling his promise” to American voters as he makes his first trip as vice president to Damascus, Virginia, on Monday to visit areas affected by Hurricane Helene in late September.
It will be Vance’s second trip to Damascus since the hurricane swept across the southeast on Sept. 27, destroying parts of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida and leaving more than 200 people dead.
“Vice President Vance visited with Damascus residents in October after the town was ravaged by Hurricane Helene,” a spokesperson for the vice president told Fox News Digital. “He pledged to be back and now he’s fulfilling his promise. The first week of this administration has made it clear that President Trump and Vice President Vance keep their word.”
Vance’s trip comes just days after President Donald Trump, Melania Trump and other politicians visited Asheville, Fletcher and Swannanoa, North Carolina, on Jan. 24, marking the now-president’s second trip to those areas since September.
HURRICANE SURVIVORS WHO MET TRUMP IN NORTH CAROLINA SHARE PRESIDENT’S WORDS THAT STUCK WITH THEM
Trump spoke in all three towns but allowed a group of locals who lost everything in Helene to share their own personal stories during his stop in Swannanoa. Some locals have taken issue with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) handling of the disaster, saying it has too much red tape for those in need of immediate assistance to get the help they need, whether it be housing, money, or both.
“I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA,” Trump told reporters in North Carolina on Friday morning. “I think, frankly, FEMA is not good.”
FEMA EXTENDS TRANSITIONAL HOUSING PROGRAM FOR NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENTS DISPLACED BY HURRICANE HELENE
Trump also promised his administration would step in and assist North Carolina to fix the damage quickly, vowing to “do a good job” for the state.
“We’re going to fix it, and we’re going to fix it as fast as you can,” Trump said. “It’s a massive amount of damage. FEMA has really let us down. Let the country down. And I don’t know if that’s Biden’s fault or whose fault it is, but we’re going to take over. We’re going to do a good job.”
Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
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