The Trump-appointed Federal Emergency Management Agency official, who made international headlines with the claim that he had the ability to teleport, has been quietly removed from his position. Gregg Phillips was picked by Trump to lead the disaster response agency’s Office of Response and Recovery last December, but his time at that position has ended. The Washington Post, citing their sources, reports that Phillips was removed “because of concerns about how he’s publicly perceived.”
After Phillips was appointed, CNN uncovered several embarrassing interviews with the former conservative activist. Phillips claimed that on several occasions he had been teleported to a Waffle House 50 miles away and concluded, “Teleporting is no fun.”
After the interview surfaced Phillips became an object of mockery, including segments on programs like “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” where a fake ad selling “teleportation waffles” with Phillips’ face was aired.
In the interviews, Phillips also discussed his desire to attack former President Joe Biden, noting, “I would like to punch that bitch in the mouth right now.” Phillips said Biden “is a nasty, shitty, crappy human being, and he deserves to die.”
Phillips also claimed that the COVID-19 virus was designed to kill people and that officials at the Department of Homeland Security were planning assassination plots against Trump.
Related |FEMA official insists he was teleported to a Waffle House
The conspiracy he mentioned the most, and likely the reason he was picked by Trump, was his belief in election fraud carried out by Democrats. Conservatives like Phillips and Trump have frequently claimed Republican election losses are the result of fraud, while offering no proof of their claims.
Back in 2016, Trump launched a commission to purportedly study voter fraud based on a baseless claim by Phillips on social media that Trump’s 2.9 million popular vote loss to Sec. Hillary Clinton came from “non-citizen votes.”
Phillips then went to work alongside the election denialist group True the Vote and supported voter suppression operations.
By selecting Phillips for such a high-profile position, Trump’s love of conspiracies and his support for fellow conspiracy theorists created an enormous headache for his administration.
Phillips joins the ranks of other Trump selections that had to be abandoned due to off-the-wall commentary. Last year the nomination for Paul Ingrassia to the Office of Special Counsel was withdrawn after texts where he described himself having a “Nazi streak” became public. Trump’s nomination of health influencer Casey Means to be surgeon general was pulled after her promotion of vaccine-related conspiracies went public.
Back in 2020, Trump also had to pull the nomination of retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata for a senior position at the Pentagon after it came out that he had called Islam an “oppressive violent religion” and referred to former President Barack Obama as a “terrorist leader.”
So far there is no word as to where Phillips will teleport next.
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