The head of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency: "Yes, I have been teleported twice."

Gregg Phillips is currently one of the top operational officials at FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), a sort of American Civil Protection. Since December 2025, he has held the position of Associate Administrator of the Office of Response and Recovery (ORR). In this crucial role, as evidenced by his written testimony to Congress on February 11, 2026, he oversees major post-disaster response and recovery operations in the United States: from the activation of the federal apparatus to the necessary assessment for the allocation of aid.

However, his resume, along with some eccentric statements from the past, is raising serious questions about the institutional profile of the official. The most sensational media episode concerns his public claims about “teleportation”.

According to an investigation by the Guardian, which also references a report by CNN, Phillips has recounted on multiple occasions being the protagonist of inexplicable physical movements. In an episode of the podcast “Onward” from January 2025, co-hosted with right-wing activist Catherine Engelbrecht, he described two surreal events: in the first, his car was allegedly “lifted” and transported for about 40 miles to a ditch near a church; in the second, he found himself “in a flash” at a diner of the Waffle House chain in Rome, Georgia, about 50 miles from where he originally was.

“Teleportation is not fun,” Phillips stated in the podcast, adding that in those circumstances “you know it’s happening but you can’t do anything about it.”

Before rising to the operational heights of FEMA, Phillips was known as a conservative activist and proponent of conspiracy theories, often related to alleged electoral frauds that were later debunked. He later appeared in the documentary “2000 Mules” by director Dinesh D’Souza, based on data from the group True the Vote. Journalistic reviews deemed the work lacking solid evidence, to the point that in 2024, D’Souza had to publicly apologize to a citizen falsely accused in the film.

In light of the revelations regarding Phillips' statements, FEMA defended its executive. When questioned by the media, the agency dismissed the questions about teleportation as "so silly that they do not merit a response.” Spokespeople also clarified that those accounts were part of a context of personal conversations "informal, joking, and partly spiritual,” preceding the appointment, and dated back to a time when Phillips was facing serious health issues.

Despite the official reassurances, there remains a political fact that is hard to overlook: the operational chief tasked with assessing the vital need for federal disaster aid is a former activist known for spreading unfounded theories and for publicly claiming to have been teleported to a Waffle House.