U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to disaster-hit western North Carolina and Los Angeles on Friday in a trip that could inflame partisan tensions over recovery efforts. Trump's first trip since

President Donald Trump on Friday is set to visit North Carolina — a state he said “has been abandoned by the Democrats” as it rebuilds from Hurricane Helene’s flooding — with questions about disaster relief taking center stage in his first days back in office.

While he has expressed support for North Carolina residents, the president has criticized California’s Democratic leaders and threatened to withhold federal aid from the state.

While President Donald Trump was expected to head from D.C. to Los Angeles on Friday, he announced that he will be traveling to North Carolina first.

President Donald Trump’s first trip since returning to the White House will take him to Asheville, North Carolina, and the Los Angeles area in California, communities where he has loudly criticized the federal response to recent natural disasters.

President Donald Trump is heading to hurricane-battered western North Carolina and wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles. It's the first trip of his second term.

President Trump announced Tuesday that he will travel to North Carolina and California this weekend for the first trips of his second term.

The president cited the disasters during his inauguration speech Monday as examples of an insufficient federal response to communities in need.