Trump expresses confusion over FEMA official Gregg Phillips' teleportation claim: 'Was he kidding?'

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump appeared genuinely puzzled after being told that one of his own administration officials had claimed he was once teleported to a Waffle House located 50 miles away.

“What does teleport mean? Was he kidding?” Trump asked during a recent CNN interview, sounding more confused than amused.

When informed that the official was not joking, Trump didn’t have much more to offer. “I don’t know anything about teleporting… It just sounds a little strange, but I know nothing about teleporting or him, but I’ll find out about it right now,” he said.

The exchange, according to CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski, was as surreal as it sounds. “I had to literally stop in the middle like, ‘This is real,’” Kaczynski later said on air Tuesday.

A ‘translated’ trip or just lost in translation?

The man at the center of the controversy, Gregg Phillips, has been making headlines since last month over a series of unusual claims. The most bizarre claim was that he had been mysteriously transported to a Waffle House dozens of miles away, something he suggested could have been an act of God.

Phillips made the remarks early last year, before being appointed to lead FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery. Despite the scrutiny, he hasn’t exactly walked it back but insists critics have twisted his words.

“The word 'teleportation' was not mine,” Phillips wrote on social media earlier this month.

“It was used by someone else in the conversation reaching for language to describe something with no easy name,” he added. “The more accurate biblical terms are 'translated' or 'transported' — not new ideas for people of faith.” 

He has also taken aim at CNN, accusing the network of producing what he called a “hit” piece on his remarks.

Gregg Phillips allegedly furious after being quietly sidelined

An unnamed White House official told CNN that leadership quickly instructed the Department of Homeland Security to either remove Phillips or “keep him out of public view” after his comments went viral.

“Everyone’s thoughts were, ‘What the hell is this? This guy has got to go,’” the source said.

Instead of a clean exit, Phillips was reportedly “quietly sidelined from parts of FEMA’s operations” and instructed “to stop posting about teleportation on Truth Social.” That alleged move didn’t sit well. According to CNN, the directive left him “furious” and “increasingly agitated and suspicious.”

Phillips later lashed out publicly, accusing Truth Social (and its CEO, Trump adviser Devin Nunes) of censoring him. “I’ve been trying to post a response to my friends on the most recent CNN hit on me. I’ve tried to post it six times,” he wrote, tagging Nunes directly. “Why are you blocking me and my ability to respond?”

The post has since been taken down.

His troubles didn’t end there. Phillips was also reportedly left off a recent trip with newly confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to parts of North Carolina still recovering from the aftermath of 2024’s Hurricane Helene.

Some Democrats have questioned Phillips’ credibility.

“FEMA is on its third unqualified acting administrator in 15 months,” said Rep Bennie Thompson, a ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, during a March hearing where Phillips had been scheduled to testify. “And the witness that was scheduled to testify today, Mr Gregg Phillips, raises serious concerns.”