Trump admin urges DHS official to stop claiming he teleported to a Waffle House - BERITAJA

The Trump administration softly pressured a elder Federal Emergency Management Agency charismatic to extremity publically claiming he was involuntarily teleported to a Waffle House successful Georgia. A White House root told CNN officials asked the Department of Homeland Security to either region Gregg Phillips from his domiciled aliases support him retired of nationalist view. The section chose the latter, directing him to extremity posting about teleportation connected societal media.

After CNN reported connected Phillips’ claims, the White House contacted DHS, FEMA’s genitor agency, urging action. “Everyone’s thoughts were, ‘What the hellhole is this? This feline has sewage to go,’” a White House charismatic told CNN.

Within days, Phillips was pulled from a scheduled Capitol Hill hearing. Multiple agency sources said he has since been softly sidelined from parts of FEMA’s operations. A root acquainted pinch the matter told CNN he was besides instructed to extremity posting about teleportation connected Truth Social. Several sources said Phillips was furious and now believes Trump officials astatine FEMA and DHS were moving against him.

The original teleportation claim

Phillips first made the declare during a January 2025 section of the “Onward” podcast. “I was pinch my boys 1 clip and I was telling them I was gonna spell to Waffle House and get Waffle House. And I ended up astatine a Waffle House — this was successful Georgia and I extremity up astatine a Waffle House for illustration 50 miles distant from wherever I was,” he said. When his sons questioned him, he insisted it was real. “But it was possible. It was real.”

He besides claimed his car was erstwhile “lifted up” and teleported about 40 miles to a ditch adjacent a church. He described the acquisition arsenic frightening but genuine. “Teleporting is nary fun,” Phillips said connected 1 podcast. “It’s nary nosy because you don’t really cognize what you’re doing. You don’t really understand it, it’s scary, but yet truthful real. And you cognize it’s happening but you can’t do thing about it and truthful you conscionable go, you conscionable spell pinch the ride. And wow, what conscionable an unthinkable escapade it each was.”

A shape of supernatural claims

The Waffle House communicative was not an isolated claim. A CNN reappraisal of Phillips’ podcast appearances, livestreams and interviews complete 5 years recovered a shape of different accounts. Across recordings, Phillips described what he framed arsenic supernatural experiences, often tied to belief aliases spirituality. He said the events happened truthful often that a friend successful Mobile, Alabama, believed he was “half successful and half out” of eden and jokingly called him “God’s zombie.”

In respective appearances successful 2025, Phillips described an incident astatine an Indianapolis Lowe’s store. He said he collapsed during a activity travel and vanished for about 2 hours. His telephone recorded about 15,000 steps during that time, moreover though he said he could hardly walk. He later woke up successful a McDonald’s parking batch pinch a Big Mac successful his lap.

On the aforesaid January 2025 podcast, Phillips described a near-crash successful the desert. He said a deceased woman appeared wrong his moving car and lifted it disconnected the roadworthy to debar an oncoming truck. “The woman that I had dated came into the car pinch me, the woman that had died,” Phillips said.

In a abstracted relationship from 2022, Phillips described a hike crossed Spain wherever he said Satan approached him and urged him to lighten his pack. He said he poured retired his past 2 liters of water, leaving him successful distress until personification recovered him and sewage help. “The devil’s correct down maine saying, ‘Dude, lighten your pack,’” Phillips said. “Satan lied to me. He convinced maine to move retired my h2o vessel to trim my battalion weight. He almost sewage his demonic wish and watched maine die,” Phillips said successful a video posted connected Truth Social successful 2025.

Trump reacts

President Donald Trump appeared confused erstwhile told about the claims. “What does teleport mean? Was he kidding?” he said, earlier being told Phillips was not joking.

“I don’t cognize thing about teleporting… It conscionable sounds a small strange,” Trump told CNN. He added he would “find retired about it correct now.”