SWANO, NORTH CAROLINA — When President Donald Trump made his first second-term trip outside of Washington, D.C., to this Buncombe County town, he brought Michael Whatley with him to tour the region devastated by Hurricane Helene.
The plan was for Whatley, then chairman of the Republican National Committee, to travel with him to the next stop in fire-scorched California, as part of his tour of disaster zones in both states. But after their stop in Swano, where Trump was greeted warmly by residents of the hurricane-ravaged Appalachian hill country, Trump left without him.
Not because it was planned, but because he placed Whatley, who grew up in the hills of these Blue Ridge Mountains, in charge of getting FEMA on track after months of delays had
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