Three Federal Emergency Management Agency supervisors who were involved in the scandal where aid workers were told to avoid homes with Trump signs after Hurricane Milton have been terminated.
Four people have been given their walking papers for the incident.
The news seems to contradict the former FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell, who told House Oversight Committee members that the shocking instruction involved only one employee.
The New York Post reports that Cameron Hamilton, current acting administrator of the agency, wrote a letter to Sen. Marsha BLACKBURN (R-TN), informing her of the findings of “an exhaustive investigation” into this matter.
Hamilton, writing for the Post, said it was “essential that the entire staff understands that this incident is reprehensible and that this type of conduct will not be tolerated by FEMA.”
He also develops further training for FEMA staff that aims to “reinforce that political affiliation shouldn’t be considered in the rendering assistance.”
The news that workers were advised to avoid homes belonging to those who support President Trump after Hurricane Milton was a shocking revelation.
Whistleblowers broke open a story about a supervisor in Lake Placid, Florida, who told employees to avoid damaged homes that had Trump signs on the outside while they were canvassing after the storm.
Marn’i Washington was also a supervisor at the agency during the incident. The messages she exchanged with the workers were clear evidence of what they did.
It was hard to dispute the “best practices” documents that stated “avoid homes advertising Trump”, and employee messages that confirmed “Trump sign No Entry per Leadership”.
Documentation proving that they followed the orders was also available.
Washington refused to remain silent and publicly stated that the politicization in disaster relief was more widespread than anyone at FEMA would admit.
She appeared quickly on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network and began making accusations. She said that aid workers avoided pro-Trump houses in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
Washington said that senior leadership would lie and claim they did not know. If you ask [Disaster Survivor Assistance] specialists and crew leaders what they experience in the field, then they will tell.
Criswell denies the allegations and tells lawmakers that “it has not gone beyond just what one employee did.”
Four did.
James Comer, the Chair of House Oversight Committee (R-KY), spoke to a whistleblower later who claimed that a FEMA contractor suggested that disaster victims holding signs in support of Trump outside their home were considered by officials to be “domestic terrorism.”
Comer stated that “elderly homeowners were so scared… that they feared they wouldn’t recover their losses that they removed the sign.”
Hamilton assures Blackburn that despite all this, playing politics with the lives of people is not an issue at FEMA.
Hamilton reports that while four supervisors failed to meet “our standards of conduct” in providing aid regardless of political beliefs, the investigation found “no evidence that this was a systematic problem, or that it was directed either by agency leadership or field leaders.”
Even though the termination of anyone involved in withholding assistance is a necessity, it falls short of expectations. These supervisors committed criminal acts.
He wrote: “Refusing federal assistance to citizens because they supported the major party candidate would be a violation of many federal laws.”
Blackburn told The Post that she was “pleased” with the firing of the three other supervisors.
She said, “This unjustifiable behaviour should never be allowed fester or run wild in any organization – let alone a Federal agency designed to serve the American people’s needs.”
