Cameron Hamilton: Less than a year after being fired, former FEMA chief is set to be reinstalled by Trump

Source: CNN

Less than a year after being fired, former FEMA chief is set to be reinstalled by Trump

Updated 20 hr ago
Updated Apr 16, 2026, 10:08 PM ET
PUBLISHED Apr 16, 2026, 9:28 PM ET

By Gabe Cohen

President Donald Trump plans to nominate Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA less than a year after he was unceremoniously fired from the disaster relief agency, three people familiar with the decision told CNN.

Hamilton was first tapped to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the start of Trump’s second term – when the administration was aggressively pursuing plans to eliminate the agency and shift responsibility for disaster response to the states.

But Hamilton soon clashed with then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski, the longtime Trump ally helping her run the department, which oversees FEMA. Lewandowski, in particular, believed Hamilton wasn’t moving quickly or forcefully enough, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Hamilton, meanwhile, increasingly balked at the plan to scrap the agency, arguing that while FEMA needed major reforms, preserving it was ultimately in the public’s best interest.

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Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/cameron-hamilton-to-be-nominated-fema-chief