In breaking new reporting from the Smoky Mountain News, DC insider and “recovery czar” Michael Whatley admitted for the first time that he won’t deliver the federal relief that was promised to Western North Carolina and that the FEMA review council that he leads won’t actually help Helene victims – despite Whatley being put in charge of “making sure everything goes well” back in January.

Read More From The Smoky Mountain News:

• “Pressed on why that total still represents only a fraction of the state’s estimated damage, Whatley said it’s unrealistic to expect full reimbursement from Washington.”
• […] he said the Trump administration’s creation of the FEMA Review Council is intended to correct past inadequacies and streamline future responses. Even though they won’t likely help Helene victims, they could help victims of future disasters recovery more quickly, Whatley said.

“Michael Whatley is finally admitting the quiet part out loud: He does not plan to deliver the federal FEMA aid that Western North Carolinians desperately need,” said Mallory Payne, senior communications advisor for the North Carolina Democratic Party. “For the sake of Western North Carolina communities who have been working to rebuild for over a year, Whatley should step down and let someone take over who will actually fight for Helene victims.”

Smoky Mountain News: Step up, or step down: Whatley blames Democrats after calls to resign grow louder

Cory Vaillancourt | October 22, 2025

• Hurricane Helene recovery czar Michael Whatley is blaming Democrats for the growing chorus of criticism over his job performance — but in heavily Republican Western North Carolina, it’s not just Democratic voices calling for Whatley to be replaced or step down. 

• “It’s kind of funny to say ‘step down,’ because I never saw him step up,” said Margaret Ackiss, a member of the North Carolina Republican Party’s 11th Congressional District executive committee.

• Local governments, homeowners and small businesses, however, are still waiting on the remaining $54 billion, nearly nine months after Whatley’s appointment as recovery czar.

• Whatley’s recorded comments came after more than 120 people from 17 counties across the Helene-impacted region signed a letter demanding Whatley be removed from his position.

• Addressed to FEMA Review Council co-chairs Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth, the letter accuses Whatley of “failing to deliver pre-approved, promised federal relief funds” and “forgetting about” the communities he was appointed to help. It cites sluggish federal reimbursements, lingering infrastructure damage and a lack of public engagement from Whatley as reasons for their discontent.

• Ackiss, a lifelong Republican who only recently saw the letter but would have signed it had she known about it, said that Helene recovery should be a non-partisan issue and that Whatley’s attempt to blame Democrats isn’t reflective of Appalachian values.

• “This is a human issue. I have friends on both sides of the aisle, although I’m a Republican. When catastrophes happen, I don’t care what party you’re in — we help the people on the ground,” said Ackiss, who claims 10 generations of roots in the region. “To me, it was completely disappointing to see Michael Whatley and many others who espouse themselves to be Republicans not step up and help the people involved in this.”

• “If it were on a scale of 10, it’d be a zero,” he said of Whatley’s job performance, “because we’ve not had any interaction with him. The funding has not come down in any way. Municipalities are suffering, trying to get just some basic things done. They have to take loans to try and get funding for repairs and whatever design or engineering is required for remediation. I’d say he’s done an extremely poor job.

• Wrobel, an unaffiliated voter, said he hadn’t seen the letter demanding Whatley step down but that if he had, he too would have been a signatory.

• Pressed on why that total still represents only a fraction of the state’s estimated damage, Whatley said it’s unrealistic to expect full reimbursement from Washington.

• While conceding that “there are improvements that need to be made,” he said the Trump administration’s creation of the FEMA Review Council is intended to correct past inadequacies and streamline future responses. Even though they won’t likely help Helene victims, they could help victims of future disasters recovery more quickly, Whatley said.

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