Gregg Phillips, known for promoting baseless election fraud claims and engaging with QAnon-linked figures, has been appointed to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Office of Response and Recovery. The move has raised concerns among emergency management experts that a lack of formal federal disaster-management experience and a highly partisan background could erode public trust in FEMA.
On December 15, 2025, Gregg Phillips began serving as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Office of Response and Recovery (ORR), the agency's largest division, according to public biographical information and recent news reports.
ORR oversees the coordination of major federal disaster response and recovery operations and the distribution of tens of billions of dollars in aid. The job does not require Senate confirmation. Reporting by outlets including the Washington Post indicates that the ORR director is not subject to a confirmation vote, although FEMA remains accountable to Congress through oversight hearings and appropriations.
Phillips, a former official in Mississippi and Texas human services agencies, rose to national prominence through his work with the Texas-based group True the Vote. He promoted false claims that millions of illegal votes were cast in the 2016 presidential election, a figure he has never substantiated despite repeated requests for evidence. He later served as an executive producer of "2000 Mules," a widely debunked 2022 film that falsely alleged a vast ballot-stuffing operation in the 2020 election, and he has continued to push unproven fraud allegations tied to that election.
Phillips has also drawn attention for his proximity to QAnon-aligned networks. Journalistic investigations have documented his appearances on QAnon-supporting podcasts, including programs such as the Matrixxx Grooove Show, and his amplification of QAnon-linked accounts and narratives on social media. In those venues, he has praised self-styled online sleuths as effective investigators and aligned himself with claims that the 2020 result was stolen. He has appeared at election-focused events that attracted QAnon figures, describing participants as patriots and treating their efforts as part of a broader campaign to expose supposed election theft.
FEMA has long been a target of conspiracy theories, particularly on the right. For decades, extremist and fringe commentators have pushed unsupported claims about secret FEMA-run detention camps, government-orchestrated disasters, and mass-surveillance or mind-control experiments disguised as disaster response. These narratives predate QAnon but have been amplified in recent years by that movement and by social media, contributing to public suspicion of disaster agencies.
Researchers and fact-checkers have documented instances in which misinformation about FEMA's role during hurricanes and other crises fueled hostility toward federal workers and complicated emergency operations. In some recent disasters, false rumors that FEMA was withholding aid or preparing to impose martial law have circulated widely enough to prompt public safety warnings and official debunkings by FEMA and state authorities.
Emergency management scholars and disinformation researchers have voiced concern about Phillips’ appointment. Experts interviewed in recent coverage, including university-based emergency management professors, warn that conspiracy-driven, anti-science rhetoric can undermine compliance with evacuation orders, public-health guidance, and other life-saving measures. Alice Marwick, a researcher who has written extensively about online extremism and conspiracy communities, has described the dynamic in which mistrust of institutions fuels further conspiratorial thinking as a self-perpetuating cycle.
Phillips has no significant record of leading federal emergency management operations, though he has cited experience working with private nonprofits and religious organizations on disaster relief. Separate investigative reporting and nonprofit watchdog reviews have raised questions about his ethical judgment and business practices. An investigation into his work with True the Vote found that entities he controlled received large sums through intertwined contracts and consulting arrangements. Another probe by ProPublica and the Dallas Morning News found that a high-profile humanitarian project he helped promote in Ukraine, the "Freedom Hospital," raised money but never materialized as advertised.
Phillips has also been a vocal critic of FEMA itself. In public posts, he has characterized himself as an opponent of the agency and has argued that disaster response should shift away from a strong federal role toward greater reliance on state and local governments and private initiatives. Homeland Security officials in the current administration have been pursuing broader changes to FEMA’s structure and responsibilities, and Phillips’ views align with efforts to scale back federal disaster obligations.
The Trump administration has simultaneously installed other controversial figures in prominent federal roles, including individuals who have questioned scientific consensus or promoted conspiracy theories in areas such as public health and law enforcement. Career officials and outside experts worry that this pattern is politicizing agencies that traditionally have sought to maintain a nonpartisan posture, particularly in crisis-response settings.
Jeffrey Pellegrino, a professor at the University of Akron who has studied disaster preparedness and ethics, noted in a recent interview that FEMA historically has tried to stay above partisan battles, given its mandate to assist communities regardless of political affiliation. He cautioned that placing a high-profile election denier with close ties to conspiracy narratives in charge of a core disaster-response office risks compounding misinformation during emergencies and weakening confidence in official guidance.
As climate change contributes to more frequent and severe storms, floods, and wildfires, FEMA is under growing pressure to act quickly and equitably. Emergency management specialists say that sustained public trust in the agency is essential to effective evacuations, aid distribution, and long-term recovery. Phillips’ leadership at ORR, they argue, will test whether FEMA can maintain that trust while being overseen by an official whose public profile has been defined less by technical disaster expertise than by partisan and conspiratorial claims about American elections.
