A senior Federal Emergency Management Agency official with a history of violent rhetoric and promoting conspiracy theories says he once teleported to a Waffle House 50 miles away.

“Teleporting is no fun,” said Greg Phillips, who leads FEMA’s critical Office of Response and Recovery, according to a CNN KFile report. “It’s no fun because you don’t really know what you’re doing. You don’t really understand it, it’s scary, but yet um – but so real. And you know it’s happening but you can’t do anything about it, and so you just go, you just go with the ride. And wow, what just an incredible adventure it all was.”

CNN describes Phillips as “a far-right activist who spread conspiracy theories about voter fraud and frequently used violent rhetoric toward political opponents.” In December, when Phillips started at FEMA, CNN described him as a “longtime Republican operative” and an “election fraud crusader” who “rocketed into the spotlight with his unsubstantiated fraud claims, which were touted by Trump.”

READ MORE: GOP Senator Denounces ‘Foolish and Lazy’ Idea Trump Keeps Pushing

Phillips has a highly consequential job which, FEMA officials said, involves decisions that affect search-and-rescue operations, emergency aid, infrastructure restoration and ultimately distribution of billions of dollars in disaster assistance.

In addition to describing multiple instances of teleportation, Phillips has repeatedly used violent rhetoric and shared conspiracy theories, CNN reported, including, in a deleted social media post targeting former President Joe Biden.

“I would like to punch that b — — in the mouth right now,” Phillips said in January 2025 podcast. “He is a nasty, s — —, c — — human being, and he deserves to die. And I hope he does.”

CNN also reported that in May 2023, Phillips said a Chinese army of “10 million people” was being imported to kill Americans at the border.

“We’ve got Chinese migrants or foreign fighting force moving into the United States and about to cross our border from Texas to California. And there’s really not much we could do about it, y’all,” he added.

READ MORE: ‘I Don’t Think She Survives This’: Gabbard Faces Blowback After ‘Devastating’ Testimony

The following year, in a video that was posted to social media, Phillips charged that migrants are coming to the United States to kill Americans, and urged Americans to learn to shoot firearms.

“Please protect yourself, protect your family, protect your babies, protect your everyone around you,” he said, CNN reported. “They’re coming from everywhere and they’re coming here to kill you. Be well armed. Take care of your family. Take care of your, your wives, your children, your daughters, everyone. Don’t let this happen.”

“They want you dead,” he added. “They’ve come here to kill you. And if anybody believes it any differently, they’re wrong. These people are here to fight. They’re here to fight us. They’re here at war.”

NEW: Gregg Phillips, a top FEMA official overseeing disaster response previously said “bitch” Biden “deserves to die,” pushed election conspiracies — and claimed once he teleported to a Waffle House.

“Teleporting is no fun…it was real.”

More here:
https://t.co/eQ7OBnBeIZ pic.twitter.com/5NH2cTi4Ze

— Andrew Kaczynski (@KFILE) March 20, 2026

READ MORE: ‘Like a Bomb Threat’: Election Officials Warn of ‘Chaos’ Trump and His Bill Could Create

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A prominent Republican U.S. Senator strongly denounced as “foolish and lazy” an idea that President Donald Trump has repeatedly championed: eliminating the filibuster.

The filibuster generally allows the minority party — currently the Democrats — to block legislation or procedures by requiring 60 votes instead of a simple majority. (Generally, because the majority party in theory could have 60 or more members, which has not happened since 2009 and 2010.)

In October on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” according to the Associated Press.

In November on Truth Social the president was even more expressive.

“The Democrats are far more likely to win the Midterms, and the next Presidential Election, if we don’t do the Termination of the Filibuster (The Nuclear Option!), because it will be impossible for Republicans to get Common Sense Policies done with these Crazed Democrat Lunatics being able to block everything by withholding their votes,” Trump wrote, as Politico reported.

READ MORE: ‘I Don’t Think She Survives This’: Gabbard Faces Blowback After ‘Devastating’ Testimony

“The filibuster is hurting the Republican Party,” Trump told Politico in December. “You can do everything” if it is eliminated, he said. “We can do everything we want.”

“We are going to have the Save America Act, one way or the other, after approval by Congress through the very proper use of the Filibuster or, at minimum, by a Talking Filibuster, à la Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” Trump wrote last month, as Mediaite reported.

Senator Tillis is of a different mindset, and although he did not mention the president by name, he blasted “politicians” who support getting rid of the filibuster.

“Eliminating the filibuster is a foolish and lazy idea pushed by politicians seeking short-term gain at the expense of causing irreparable long-term harm to our nation,” Tillis wrote in a statement on the SAVE Act. “Succeeding in eliminating the filibuster would significantly weaken the minority party, end the need for bipartisan compromise, and allow erratic swings in policy that would transform America for the worse. Those are just the consequences of a best-case outcome.”

As for the SAVE Act — legislation critics call a voter suppression bill but which Trump has said must pass — Tillis said he supports some, but not all, of it.

“The only real path to address the American people’s declining confidence in our elections is for both parties to find common ground on legislation that supports universal adoption of voter ID, proof of citizenship, and other vital election integrity measures,” he wrote.

Trump has repeatedly said that if the SAVE Act passes Republicans will not lose another race for 50 years.

READ MORE: ‘Like a Bomb Threat’: Election Officials Warn of ‘Chaos’ Trump and His Bill Could Create

Image via Reuters 

Top election officials are warning that President Donald Trump’s sweeping plan to overhaul voting systems would unleash chaos if signed into law — particularly before the November midterms — and could open the door to federal interference in U.S. elections.

Democracy Docket calls the SAVE America Act “a major assault on Americans’ right to vote and states’ constitutional authority over elections.”

The bill forces voters to show documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, such as an official, certified birth certificate or U.S. passport, to be able to register to vote. It would also require photo ID for voters wishing to cast a ballot, and require all states to share voter data with the federal government. Some estimates say more than 140 million Americans do not have a valid passport, and millions do not have access to a certified copy of their birth certificates.

The SAVE Act “would create chaos in the administration of elections,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said Thursday. “All of us know this.”

Noting that the bill’s requirements would go into effect as soon as it is signed, Simon described the move as “unheard of for something this sweeping in scope to take effect immediately.”

READ MORE: ‘Trump’s Favorite Democrat’: Why the Left Is Saying Fetterman ‘Needs to Go’

Simon pointed to a similar Kansas law that disenfranchised 31,000 eligible citizens from being able to register to vote, according to Democracy Docket.

Others also weighed in with concerns.

“This bill assumes that every voter can navigate these requirements and navigate them quickly, and that is just not reality,” Connecticut Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas said.

“Imagine a woman, divorced, she’s moved, changed her name and needs to update her voter registration,” Thomas said. “Under this bill, that is no longer a simple matter. It means tracking down multiple documents.”

Thomas offered other possible examples, such as an 82-year-old man, who “just moved into assisted living. He’s voted his entire life. He’s never had a passport. No one knows where his birth certificate is at this point, and he doesn’t have a family member to help him use a computer.”

“That lifelong voter could be blocked, not because he’s ineligible, but because he can’t produce the right document at the right time.”

The bill imposes technological and administrative requirements on states but does not fund them, suggested Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs.

At the state level, Hobbs said, Washington would have to spend $35 to $40 million to comply with the SAVE Act. Locally, counties in his state would also have to spend millions of dollars annually to comply.

Then there is President Trump’s threat that the federal government, or the GOP, should be in charge of voting.

Last month, the president said, “We should take over the voting in at least many – 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

Secretary Simon “said his office is preparing for that possibility as if it were an emergency event, like a severe weather event or a power outage,” Democracy Docket reported.

“I regret to say, and it’s very sad to say, that in the year 2026, I have to add to that bucket the possibility that our own federal government will do something that will either directly or even indirectly interfere with the freedom to vote,” he said. “We have to treat this like a bomb threat.”

READ MORE: ‘I Don’t Think She Survives This’: Gabbard Faces Blowback After ‘Devastating’ Testimony

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