Lawmaker presses FEMA boss over scandal of aid workers avoiding homes of hurricane victims with Trump signs

CV NEWS FEED // A Republican House lawmaker pressed Biden-Harris Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell over a FEMA supervisor having directed aid workers to ignore homes of hurricane victims who expressed visible support for then-candidate Donald Trump.

The supervisor in question, Marn’i Washington, has since been fired from the agency. 

Washington has maintained that her orders to withhold aid to open Trump supporters came from higher up in the FEMA chain of command. She has also specified that the practice of “avoiding” pro-Trump victims was not unique to Florida and had also taken place in the Carolinas.

Criswell testified on Tuesday in front of the House Transportation Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management.

She told the subcommittee that she “was very concerned” when she learned that Washington “had given direction to her Disaster Survivor Assistance (DSA) team that were completely at odds with FEMA’s mission.”

“This employee wrote to about 11 staffers under her supervision that they should ‘avoid homes advertising Trump,’” Criswell said, adding that she received “visual evidence” of Washington’s directive.

“This type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA,” Criswell stated, “and we will hold people accountable if they violate our standards of conduct.”

Criswell then claimed that she does not believe that Washington’s actions “are indicative of any widespread cultural problems at FEMA” – a direct contradiction of the fired supervisor’s testimony.

Subcommittee Chairman Scott Perry, R-PA, asked Criswell to tell him about the agency’s investigation into the national scandal.

“You issued a statement that one FEMA employee departed from FEMA’s values and was terminated,” Perry said to the FEMA administrator. “However, she alleges that those were the instructions from FEMA when she was deployed.”

The congressman summarized that Washington “asserts that FEMA supervisors and leadership were aware.” 

“And independently, we’ve received reports of similar practices in places like North Carolina,” he added.

Criswell denied Washington’s assertions, telling Perry: “There is nothing in our policies and our procedures, in our training that would direct any employee to bypass anybody’s home based on their political party.”

The Biden-Harris administration official said she could “not speak to what” the motivations of her agency’s fired worker were – and claimed that the matter had only come to her attention “on November 7,” weeks after a pair of deadly hurricanes wreaked havoc on the American southeast.

“I directed my team to get me information,” Criswell recounted. “They gave me factual information on November 9, which is when I directed the termination of this employee.”

>> FEMA FIRES SUPERVISOR WHO TOLD RELIEF WORKERS NOT TO HELP TRUMP SUPPORTERS <<

“The Office of Professional Responsibility is currently working with the IG (Inspector General) to determine what the investigative matters will be going forward,” she continued:

The IG has not of yet stated they want to investigate this, but I highly encourage them to take on this case and look and see if this was a widespread issue or if this was just a single incident.

Perry responded: “So, you’re working with them and you’ve encouraged them but you haven’t requested they do so.”

He proceeded to press Criswell on Washington’s contention that the orders to bypass houses declaring their support for the 2024 Republican ticket “came from somebody above.”

“What has your investigation gleaned regarding her direct supervisors, the people above her?” Perry asked. “Have you questioned them and what have your answers been?”

Criswell replied: “We do have an ongoing investigation.”

She added that FEMA has “questioned other personnel in this chain of command and we find no information at this point that there was anything beyond her direction to her employees.”

Perry fired back that Washington alleged FEMA’s “Florida team had already been avoiding Trump voters’ homes prior to her work there, and that this was, as she said, the culture.”

“Now these aren’t my words,” Perry stressed. “These are the words from a FEMA employee who is claiming that she is being the scapegoat.”

>> FIRED SUPERVISOR CLAIMS FEMA HAD ANTI-TRUMP POLICY IN FLORIDA, CAROLINAS <<

He highlighted that Washington said: “But I am just simply executing again what was coming down from my supervisors.”

Still later in the exchange, Criswell repeated her earlier point that there is an “ongoing investigation.” She said that the purpose of the investigation is “to determine if there was any additional acts that violated our core values of compassion, fairness, integrity, and respect.”

Perry asked Criswell to specify if the investigation includes Washington’s “immediate supervisors and several steps above them.”

“The investigation includes those that were deployed in this particular incident,” Criswell said. “And we have found no evidence that there is anything beyond this one employee’s specific direction.”

Perry then suggested there should be an independent investigation by the IG into the matter – in addition to FEMA’s internal investigation. Criswell told him that she would request one.

Perry wrote on X (formerly Twitter) shortly following the exchange: “Criswell claims there is nothing in FEMA’s policies, procedures, and training that directs any employee to bypass anyone’s home based on political party.”

“And yet,” the lawmaker added, “the fired FEMA employee says she was carrying out orders from her supervisors. The American People deserve the truth.”

CatholicVote reported last week that

Washington stated that avoiding Trump supporters’ homes was tied to FEMA’s policies of “avoidance” and “de-escalation,” and suggested that it did not happen only in Florida – as widely reported – but in other states where Trump voters were among the hurricane victims.  

“FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation, so this is not isolated, this is a colossal event of avoidance not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas.”  

Washington also alleged that the policy and instructions were developed by higher-ups and can be traced back through FEMA reports. 

>> DeSANTIS TO SUPPORT LEGAL ACTION AGAINST FEMA IN FLORIDA <<