FEMA director confirms employees avoided Trump homes, promises inspector general probe

FEMA Director Deanne Criswell admitted to Congress on Tuesday that federal disaster specialists skipped more than 20 homes in Florida with Donald Trump campaign signs, which she called an inexcusable betrayal of the agency’s mission.

Ms. Criswell said she had fired the part-time supervisor who issued the directive to her 11-member team and deployed a special team to visit the 20 snubbed homeowners and offer assistance.

She said she would ask her agency’s inspector general to determine whether the rot runs beyond the Florida supervisor, though she added that the incident appears to be isolated.

“I do not believe there is a widespread cultural problem,” she said in testimony to two House committees.

The order to dismiss houses based on politics was a severe embarrassment for the Federal Emergency Management Agency while the Biden administration was coming to Congress to request an additional $100 billion in disaster relief.

Republicans said the incident is part of a trend of “weaponized” government against political opponents.

“It’s the culture of what’s going on,” said Rep. Jefferson Van Drew, New Jersey Republican.

The fired FEMA worker, Marn’i Washington, said her actions weren’t a matter of political targeting but rather security.

She said people in homes with Trump signs have been the source of confrontations with FEMA personnel, so it made sense to avoid them. She said the decision was in line with FEMA’s de-escalation policy.

In an interview Monday with NewsNation, she said she was acting under orders from superiors.

“I’m being framed. There’s no violation of the Hatch Act. I was simply following orders,” she said.

Ms. Criswell said an investigation found no evidence that anyone else, including Ms. Washington’s supervisors, ordered disparate treatment of Trump homes.

“We find no information at this point that there was anything beyond her direction to her employees,” the director said.

The director also rejected Ms. Washington’s argument of security.

Ms. Criswell said FEMA employees are trained to handle hostile behavior in reaction to a visit. She said nothing in the agency’s training or policies would justify skipping over houses because of political signs.

She said she had emailed all employees about the rules and ordered “refresher” training.

Ms. Criswell said a Transportation Security Administration employee assigned to work on Ms. Washington’s team revealed the Florida incident.

Ms. Criswell said an issue with disinformation fostered “a difficult security environment.”

“We help all survivors, all people, obtain all assistance they are qualified for under the law, and misinformation was making that work much more difficult,” she said.

She said Hurricanes Helene and Milton spawned more disinformation than previous disasters.

Several Republican lawmakers mentioned reports of political targeting in North Carolina.

Ms. Criswell said the inspector general would investigate but doubted anything worrying would be found.

“I have seen no evidence that shows this was anything beyond one person’s specific instructions to her team,” Ms. Criswell said.

Republicans said the problems ran deeper.

While President Biden is asking for $100 billion in emergency disaster money, FEMA is still funneling tens of millions of dollars toward resettling illegal immigrants.

“How would I explain that to a taxpayer, that a taxpayer, a citizen of the United States, is eligible for $750, yet a citizen of a foreign country, under your agency, is still eligible for assistance of $10,000?” said Rep. Garret Graves, Louisiana Republican. “This is ridiculous.”

He said illegal immigrants are eligible for $10,000 in resettlement assistance while FEMA offers only $750 in emergency cash benefits to Americans who survive disasters.

He urged Ms. Criswell to siphon money from the illegal immigrant resettlement account.

Ms. Criswell rebutted Mr. Graves’ math and said Americans are eligible for as much as $85,000 in total disaster assistance. She refused calls to reprogram money away from illegal immigrants.

“We are administering that program as directed by Congress,” she said.

• Jeff Mordock contributed to this report.