President Donald Trump on Friday is visiting North Carolina — a state he said “has been abandoned by the Democrats” as it rebuilds from Hurricane Helene’s flooding — with questions about disaster relief taking center stage in his first days back in office.

While he has expressed support for North Carolina residents, the president has criticized California’s Democratic leaders and threatened to withhold federal aid from the state.

SWANNANOA, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump said he was considering “getting rid of” the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a trip to disaster zones Friday, offering the latest sign of how he is weighing sweeping changes to the nation’s central organization for responding to disasters.

He did not offer clear details on what he would replace it with, but indicated he wants to move more of the disaster management responsibility to the states.

U.S. President Donald Trump vowed on Friday to sign an executive order to overhaul or eliminate the main federal agency that responds to natural disasters, saying he preferred that states be given federal money to handle disasters themselves.

In his first trip since returning to the White House, President Trump traveled today to two areas of the country recently devastated by disasters. He first stopped in the parts of North Carolina ravaged by Hurricane Helene,