President Donald Trump plans to nominate Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA lower than a yr after he was unceremoniously fired from the catastrophe aid company, three individuals aware of the choice advised CNN.
Hamilton was first tapped to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency initially of Trump’s second time period – when the administration was aggressively pursuing plans to remove the company and shift duty for catastrophe response to the states.
But Hamilton quickly clashed with then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski, the longtime Trump ally serving to her run the division, which oversees FEMA. Lewandowski, specifically, believed Hamilton wasn’t transferring shortly or forcefully sufficient, in accordance to sources aware of the scenario.
Hamilton, in the meantime, more and more balked on the plan to scrap the company, arguing that whereas FEMA wanted main reforms, preserving it was in the end within the public’s finest curiosity.
“We have no personnel matters to announce at this time,” a FEMA spokesperson advised CNN. The White House didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
A former Navy SEAL who ran a failed bid for Congress in 2024, Hamilton had restricted expertise managing pure disasters earlier than his first stint at FEMA final yr.
He discovered he would possibly be fired final May, simply hours earlier than he was scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill. Hamilton testified anyway — and, together with his potential firing looming, publicly broke with the administration’s stance on FEMA’s future.
“As the senior advisor to the president on disasters and emergency management, and to the secretary of homeland security, I do not believe it is in the best interest the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Hamilton advised the committee final yr.
Hamilton’s anticipated return to FEMA highlights a pointy shift within the administration’s posture towards the company below Noem’s successor, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
Mullin’s crew has begun rolling again a number of Noem-era insurance policies and cuts, whereas hanging a special tone — praising FEMA’s work whilst he pushes to reduce purple tape and pace catastrophe help to communities.
Trump was the primary to say FEMA ought to “go away,” floating the thought simply days into his presidency and later saying the administration would section out the company after final yr’s hurricane season.
But Noem’s aggressive overhaul — which hollowed out senior management, reduce roughly 30% of the workforce, cratered morale and helped create a multibillion-dollar backlog in catastrophe funding — triggered backlash from state and native officers nationwide, in addition to outstanding Republican lawmakers.
Now, the administration seems to be pulling again from its most sweeping plans, whilst FEMA awaits a final report from the FEMA Review Council, a job drive Trump created early in his presidency to overhaul the company.
Trump is but to nominate a FEMA administrator throughout his second time period.
Instead, DHS has cycled by means of three appearing leaders over the previous yr, together with Hamilton.
Hamilton’s first tenure was marked by dramatic moments.
In the month earlier than his firing, information leaked a couple of closed-door coverage assembly that included Hamilton about FEMA’s future, together with discussions of how the company might be dismantled. Days later, DHS leaders ordered him to take a lie detector test.
Then, simply hours earlier than he was to testify on the congressional listening to, Hamilton was mistakenly tipped off to his impending termination, after DHS notified FEMA safety that his entry would quickly be shut off. DHS then knowledgeable FEMA management that an error had been made.
While he advocated for FEMA to be saved at that listening to, he additionally testified: “I am not in a position to make decisions and impact outcomes on whether or not a determination as consequential as that should be made. That is a conversation that should be had between the president of the United States and this governing body.”
Hamilton was escorted out of FEMA headquarters the following day.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later blamed Hamilton’s testimony for his firing, saying, “This individual testified saying something that was contrary to what the president believes and the goals of this administration in regards to FEMA policy.”
Multiple sources have advised CNN the choice to hearth Hamilton was truly weeks within the making.
