The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has dismissed three additional supervisors involved in Hurricane Milton’s response, in which aid workers were instructed to bypass homes displaying Trump signs.
Former FEMA Acting Administrator Deanne Criswell had initially told the House Oversight Committee that only one employee was involved. That brings the total number of FEMA employees given the boot to four. The terminations follow weeks of “exhaustive investigation” in which the agency determined that the errant supervisors failed to “meet our standards of conduct” which involves avoiding any partisan behavior.
“It is essential that the entire workforce understand that this incident was reprehensible, and this type of behavior will not be tolerated at FEMA,” current Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton said in a letter to Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
The acting director also stated that there was no evidence of a systemic problem and that the behavior was not “directed by agency or field leadership.” He also claimed that the practice had “not gone beyond what this one employee did.” However, the Daily Wire reported that former FEMA supervisor Marn’i Washington had directed her team working around Lake Placid, Florida, to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as per the agency’s “best practices,” and “Trump sign no entry per leadership.” Another FEMA employee told the House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) that hurricane victims with Trump signs were viewed as “domestic terrorists.”
When the political bias became public knowledge, Criswell fired Washington for violating “FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.”
When fired, Washington went scorched earth, insisting that FEMA had directed its workers to ignore Trump supporters “not just in the state of Florida” but also “in the Carolinas.” She also accused FEMA leadership of scapegoating errant supervisors who directed their crews to avoid Trump supporters’ homes.
“Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know, but if you ask the crew leads and specialists what they’re experiencing in the field, they will tell you,” she told podcaster Roland Martin.
Citing one FEMA employee, the New York Post also reported that the workers received “‘clear guidance’ to be ‘mindful’ of affected regions that are ‘largely Republican’ or ‘very conservative.’”
However, several House committees, the US Office of Special Counsel, and the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General investigated potential political bias and found that the problem was not as widespread as Washington claimed.
Subsequently, the ex-FEMA supervisor stands accused of violating the Hatch Act for participating in illegal partisan political activity to interfere with the results of an election. She risks civil penalties and being blacklisted from working with the federal government, which does not go far enough for her alleged reprehensible behavior. The same fate could also befall the three other FEMA employees who were recently terminated for participating in the discriminatory practice.
Meanwhile, Hamilton has directed the remaining FEMA employees to undergo “comprehensive additional training” reminding them that “political affiliation should never be a consideration in the rendering of assistance.”
Sen. Blackburn also told the New York Post that she welcomed the termination of the four errant FEMA employees involved in the “disgusting discrimination against Trump supporters.”
“This unjustifiable behavior should never be allowed to fester or run rampant in any organization — let alone a federal agency that is designed to serve the needs of the American people.”
Clean out FEMA period! I don’t trust any of them, especially after their outrageous treatment of people in need who were regarded as “domestic terrorists” because they supported Mister Trump.