Congressional Republicans are vowing to launch multiple investigations into the Federal Emergency Management Agency after a fired supervisor claimed that she and other staffers were instructed to ignore Trump-supporting homes as part of disaster recovery efforts.
“This will be investigated,” promised North Carolina GOP Sen. Ted Budd on Tuesday in an X post responding to the shocking allegations that the FEMA mandate was widespread in Florida and the Carolinas after Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit.
“Anyone who abuses the power of the federal government to hurt North Carolinians in need will be held accountable,” Budd added. “I will personally see to it.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, urged his panel to launch a probe and haul the sacked employee in for sworn testimony.
“The Homeland Security Committee needs to launch an immediate investigation and call this individual to testify. Under oath. In public,” Hawley (R-Mo.) also posted Tuesday on X, sharing a recent interview with the employee who was let go.
FEMA supervisor Marn’i Washington claimed in a Monday podcast interview with Roland Martin that higher-ups scapegoated her for abiding by an agency-wide practice of skipping “politically hostile” homes in hurricane-ravaged states.
“FEMA preaches avoidance first, and then de-escalation. This is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance,” the 39-year-old ex-government employee said.
“Not just in the state of Florida. You will find avoidance in the Carolinas.”
Washington told her team of FEMA workers in a Microsoft Teams chat to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as part of agency “best practices,” according to screenshots obtained by the Daily Wire
The House Oversight Committee and House Homeland Security committees have both launched their own probes of the alleged misconduct.
An Oversight spokeswoman told The Post on Tuesday that FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will testify before the panel next Tuesday at 2 p.m.
“This administration has given its bureaucrats the green light to make unhinged, power-drunk decisions,” Rep. Nancy Mace told The Post.
“They’ve emboldened officials to think it’s okay to push personal agendas instead of just doing their jobs. Americans deserve better than this circus,” added Mace, who sits on the House Oversight Committee.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, who serves on the Homeland Security Committee, slammed the Biden administration’s handling of incident as “reprehensible.”
“The Biden administration weaponized FEMA to purposely deny Trump-supporting Americans critical aid & assistance during a natural disaster,” Gimenez (R-Fla.) told The Post on Tuesday.
“As a member of the Homeland Security Committee, overseeing FEMA, we must hold those responsible accountable & ensure those impacted receive the assistance they are rightfully entitled to.”
Criswell said in a statement on Saturday that the appalling conduct was from just “one FEMA employee” who acted in “clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation” by telling “her survivor assistance team to not go to homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Trump.”
“I want to be clear to all of my employees 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,” the FEMA chief added.
The US Office of Special Counsel is also looking into the matter, Criswell noted.
An ex-FEMA official told The Post on Tuesday, however, that passing over potential Trump voters was an open secret at the agency for years — and part of the Biden-Harris administration’s push to “prioritize the most under resourced, marginalized communities first.”
Washington said she did not possess the authority to order disaster relief workers who were canvassing homes in Lake Placid, Fla., to avoid now-President-elect Donald Trump’s supporters after the devastation of Milton.
A higher-ranking FEMA supervisor had approved the directive, she noted.
“Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know, but if you ask the [Disaster Survivor Assistance] crew leads and specialists what they’re experiencing in the field, they will tell you,” she added.
“Demand for FEMA to give you those incident reports, they will substantiate what is happening to us in the field,” she also told Martin. “FEMA’s very well aware of the incidents that take place, not just with my crew, but with all the crews in the states.”
Her Florida-based FEMA team skirted around 20 homes with Trump signs or flags between late October and early November — preventing the residents from being able to sign up for federal disaster relief assistance in the wake of the Category 3 hurricane.
In the past, some of those admonitions have applied to any household deemed “politically hostile” as part of general “safety precautions, not because of political play,” according to Washington.
FEMA employees did receive threats after the hurricanes due to false messages being spread on social media. In Tennessee, one sheriff revealed that an armed group had targeted aid workers
Washington, who worked for FEMA since 2019, has also since been fired from her other job at a private real estate.
She has since had to leave her home due to incoming threats.
Reps for FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
