A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff member was fired after advising their disaster response team to bypass homes with signs supporting the former president. Donald Trump When assessing Florida’s hurricane-affected areas Hurricane MiltonThe agency said on Saturday.
FEMA Administrator Dean Criswell condemned the staff member’s conduct as “reprehensible” and confirmed that their employment had been terminated.
“More than 22,000 FEMA employees follow FEMA’s core values every day and are dedicated to helping people before, during and after a disaster, often sacrificing time with their families to help disaster victims,” Criswell said in a post on X before detailing the event. .
“This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles of helping people regardless of their political affiliation,” she continued.
“This was reprehensible. I want to make clear to all my staff and the American people, this type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct,” he added.
The incident was first reported by The Daily Wire, which cited internal communications showing FEMA official Marnie Washington issuing her instructions verbally via Microsoft Teams Chat used by relief workers canvassing Lake Placid homes affected by Hurricane Milton last month.
“Avoid houses advertising Trump,” Washington wrote in a “best practices” memo to staff.
“Signals that Trump will make no headway” were notes left on FEMA’s monitoring system.
FEMA staff informed the publication that about 20 residences displaying Trump flags or signs frequently seen during the election period were vacated from late October through November following the directive, the New York Post reported.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has asked FEMA Administrator Criswell to appear at a Nov. 19 hearing and address the recent incident, according to his letter to Criswell.
The Kentucky Republican said: “In light of recent major disasters that have impacted Americans of all political persuasions, it is critical that FEMA follow through on its disaster relief efforts.”
According to CNN, a FEMA spokesperson said: “The staff that issued this directive had no authority and no instructions were given to tell crews to avoid these homes.” The agency “helps all survivors regardless of their political preferences or affiliations,” the spokesperson added.
FEMA is currently investigating the number of homes bypassed in the October 27 incident. Earlier on Friday, the organization had deployed a new team to contact previously missed households in the affected areas.
While declining to provide further details because of the ongoing investigation, the spokesperson indicated that FEMA officials, “are concerned that this has happened and therefore have taken extreme measures to correct this situation and ensure that this matter is addressed at all levels.”
Following the reports, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a state-level investigation into the matter.
DeSantis told X: “The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is another reason the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days. At my direction, the Department of Emergency Management is launching an investigation into the federal government’s targeted discrimination against Floridians who support Donald Trump. “
Hurricane Milton, which killed more than 20 people, destroyed homes and left millions without power in Florida, struck just two weeks after Hurricane Helen made landfall as a Category 4 storm.