Trump and Melania leave the White House to tour disaster zones in North Carolina and California

By Rob Crilly, Chief US Political Correspondent

President Donald Trump leaves Washington on Friday for the first trip of his second administration to tour disaster zones in North Carolina and California.

He will first go to Asheville, which was devastated by tornadoes in September, and where he condemned President Joe Biden's response to the disaster.

More controversy awaits when he visits areas of Los Angeles devastated by wildfires.

He has regularly blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom, nicknamed him “Newscum,” and claimed he will withhold federal aid unless the state turns on a tap that he claims would allow water to flow in from northern parts of the state.

Experts say no such valve exists and that California has spent years trying to get more water to arid parts of the state.

“I don't think we should give California anything until they get the water flowing,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity on Wednesday. The president also proposed shifting more responsibility for disaster management to individual states. “I'd rather see the states solve their own problems,” he told Hannity, adding that “FEMA gets in the way of everything.”

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff has turned down Donald Trump's invitation to tour the devastation caused by the Los Angeles wildfires.

The president leaves Washington on Friday for the first trip of his second administration to tour disaster zones in North Carolina and California.

He invited Schiff, an old enemy whom he called “scum” on his first day in the White House.

But a spokesperson for the newly elected senator from Calfirornia said he was “unable” to attend due to “scheduled nominating votes.”

Jon Michael Raasch, American political reporter on Capitol Hill

Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, will tour disaster zones in California and North Carolina with the president on Friday.

The cross-country visits will take place just hours before the Senate will vote on the final confirmation of the nominee to become defense secretary.

The many photo ops could benefit the president and his pick as they travel through hurricane and fire wrecks.

Hegseth cannot afford to lose many more Republican votes in the Senate, as two Republican senators announced last night that they would not support the former Fox News host.

Presenting a united front with the president just before the critical confirmation vote could be enough to get Hegseth through a shock confirmation tonight around 9pm ET.

President Donald Trump engaged in some of his signature “chopper talk” before setting off on his disaster recovery journey in North Carolina and Los Angeles.

First lady Melania Trump bundled up and accompanied him as he left the White House on a frigid DC morning

She will attend meetings with him, along with disaster management officials and politicians.

The first lady, who famously wore a jacket that said, “I really don't care, do you?” during a trip to visit shelters for child migrants, he wore a black knit hat and Aviator sunglasses — former President Joe Biden's favorite glasses.

Gavin Newsom plans to crash the proceedings when Donald Trump makes his first visit to California in his second term on Friday to investigate the Los Angeles wildfires.

Newsom, who has not been invited to join Trump on tour, told reporters Thursday that he will be at LAX to greet the president — whether he likes it or not.

“I look forward to being out there on the tarmac to thank the president, welcome him, and make sure all the resources he needs for a successful briefing are provided to him,” Newsom said.

He added that he will roll out the red carpet, saying: “There is no limit to the resources we will make available for that briefing.”

Trump and California's governor have feuded for years, with the president calling the liberal “Newscum” and the Democrat working tirelessly to prevent Trump from regaining the White House.

Tensions between the two have been high recently as Trump has criticized Newsom's handling of the deadly wildfires.

The last secret files on the assassination of John F. Kennedy can now be published after President Donald Trump ordered the release of all remaining documents on the 1963 assassination on Thursday.

Conspiracy theories continue to swirl 60 years after the murder.

And any new information will excite amateur sleuths, who continue to wonder if there's more to the story than just a lone gunman in the form of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Trump signed an executive order directing his Director of National Intelligence to prepare a plan within 15 days for the full release of documents related to JFK's assassination.

“That's a big one, isn't it?” He said as he scribbled his signature on the order before asking for the pen to be given to RFK Jr. 'A lot of people have been waiting for this for a long time… years, decades.

“All will be revealed.”