Smoky Mountain News: “His absence from storm-damaged areas, coupled with his reluctance to answer direct questions has eroded confidence in Whatley’s leadership”

New reporting from Smoky Mountain News is slamming DC insider Michael Whatley for “not be[ing] the face of the recovery, nor has he taken ownership of the slow pace of reimbursements.”

In his “first trip to Western North Carolina” since he was put in charge of “making sure everything goes well” back in January, Whatley hid from the public in a closed-door meeting and “back[ed] away from responsibility.” Then, he refused to denounce Kristi Noem fast-tracking disaster relief to a Florida political donor instead of Western North Carolina.

Read More:

Smoky Mountain News: Whatley backs away from Helene role during first WNC visit

Cory Vaillancourt | October 1, 2025

• Michael Whatley’s first trip to Western North Carolina as President Donald Trump’s hand-picked Hurricane Helene “recovery czar” was not the sort of open, public event many victims of the storm had hoped for; instead, Whatley appeared Sept. 22 at a closed-door FEMA Review Council meeting in Fletcher where a leaked agenda lists him as a subcommittee co-chair and “former Republican National Committee chair” — not as the person Trump tapped to head up widely-panned recovery efforts. 
• Now more than a year after Helene, recovery has been slow. Federal reimbursements allocated or obligated in North Carolina have reached about $5 billion. Against an estimated $60 billion in damages, that’s a fraction of what is needed…
• The review council meeting was not open to the press or the public, and The Smoky Mountain News received no notice of Whatley’s visit.
• Just prior to the review council meeting, a spokesperson for Whatley’s Senate campaign said the meeting would take place in Asheville, but it actually took place at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher. The misstatement added to the confusion surrounding Whatley’s role in the recovery and underscored how he seems to be backing away from responsibility as he ramps up his Senate campaign against former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.
• The frustration is evident in a petition circulated by WNC residents demanding Whatley’s removal from the FEMA Review Council.
• Adding insult to injury, ProPublica reported that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who’s assumed a leadership role in FEMA’s disaster recovery process, recently “fast-tracked” a funding request for the repair of a pier in Naples, Florida that was damaged in 2022 — at the behest of a donor named Sinan Gursoy.
• Whatley recently refused to denounce Noem’s actions.
• Even within Whatley’s own party, criticism has surfaced. Republican Sen. Ted Budd called Noem’s office “a quagmire” and said calls he’d made to Noem’s office had not been returned.
• The leaked agenda that identified Whatley only as a former party chair reflects his shifting political priorities. As recovery czar, he has not been the face of the recovery, nor has he taken ownership of the slow pace of reimbursements. As a Senate candidate, however, he has every incentive to avoid being tied to unmet promises.
• His absence from storm-damaged areas, coupled with his reluctance to answer direct questions has eroded confidence in Whatley’s leadership; before Whatley even stepped into North Carolina in a Helene recovery role, he did find time on Sept. 8 to speak at a what critics call a Christian nationalist conference in Raleigh — the same conference that promoted disgraced Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson across the state prior to his 2024 loss to Stein in the governor’s race.
• Whatley was closely tied to Robinson and refused to denounce him after a CNN report concluded Robinson was behind a number of obscene posts on a pornographic website, where he called himself “a black NAZI.” 

###