President Trump will take his first trip since returning to the White House on Friday to storm-ravaged North Carolina and California, which is suffering some of the most deadly and destructive blazes in the state’s history. The trip comes as the president has left the question of additional disaster aid for California unsettled. Mr. Trump is expected to make his first stop in Asheville, N.C., which suffered devastating flooding from Hurricane Helene last fall. Mr. Trump then plans on traveling to the Los Angeles area, where he will observe the damage from wildfires that have killed more than two dozen people, destroyed entire neighborhoods and forced desperate evacuations.

U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to disaster-hit western North Carolina and Los Angeles on Friday in a trip that could inflame partisan tensions over recovery efforts. Trump's first trip since reassuming the presidency on Monday could provide an opportunity to assure residents that the federal government will help those whose lives have been upended by hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters. But Trump has indicated that he may use the trip to stoke grievances against Democratic rivals. He has complained that his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden did not do enough to help western North Carolina recover from Hurricane Helene, which devastated the region in September, an accusation the Biden administration has rejected as misinformation. On a campaign stop to the Republican-leaning area before the November election, Trump promised to rebuild every home destroyed by the storm and cut red tape.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Western North Carolina on Friday to visit locals impacted by Hurricane Helene in late September. The president and other U.S. officials — as well as some local residents — have scrutinized the federal government's response to the devastation in the months since Sept. 27, when Helene destroyed large swaths of the Appalachian region, and killed more than 100 people in North Carolina alone. "Throughout the transition, both President Trump and Vice President Vance repeatedly reached out to me to check in on how Western North Carolina was doing," Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis told Fox News Digital in a statement ahead of the president's visit. "That is a testament to how high of a priority the recovery and rebuilding process is for them. President Trump’s visit on Friday is welcome news for the thousands of families dealing with a state of uncertainty when it comes to securing housing."