Donald and Melania Trump will stop in North Carolina, California and Nevada during the first trip of his second term. Follow along for live updates.

As wildfires raged across Los Angeles, killing at least 24 people and destroying thousands of structures, some people sought to contrast emergency response to the fires to disaster response that followed deadly hurricanes that battered the southeastern U.

Shifting positions: Trump administration officials continued to reverse or revise the government’s stance on multiple fronts, including active Supreme Court cases, Jan. 6 prosecutions, school book bans, foreign aid programs and gender definitions. Mr. Trump also reinstated a Republican anti-abortion policy known as the “Mexico City Rule.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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.

The Hughes Fire broke out late Wednesday morning and in less than a day had charred nearly 16 square miles of trees and brush near Lake Castaic.

The visit, coming at the end of Trump's first week back in office, took place as he continued to denounce the state emergency response being led by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom - one of Trump's fiercest critics - and worries the president might withhold aid over policies in the liberal state.

President Trump landed in Los Angeles on Friday to survey the devastation from the firestorms that swept through the county.

Trump says he’ll have Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley working on hurricane relief matters instead of using the Federal Emergency Management Agency

The Republican president has criticized former President Joe Biden for his administration's response to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. As he left the White House, he told reporters that “it’s been a horrible thing the way that’s been allowed to fester” since the storm hit in September, and "we're going to get it fixed up.”

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina - US President Donald Trump visited hurricane-hit western North Carolina on Jan 24 and was travelling later to wildfire-struck Los Angeles, promising help while stoking partisan tensions with Democratic rivals over recovery efforts.

In a meeting with local, state and congressional leaders, Trump assured them "the federal government is standing behind you 100%."

CASTAIC, Calif. — Evacuation orders were lifted Thursday for tens of thousands as firefighters with air support slowed the spread of a huge wildfire churning through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles, but new blazes erupted in San Diego County, briefly triggering more evacuations.