A Federal Emergency Management Agency employee has been fired for directing relief staff responding to Hurricane Milton to avoid houses with signs supporting former president Donald Trump, the agency said Saturday.
FEMA Director Deanne Criswell called the action “reprehensible” and wrote online that the behavior wouldn’t be tolerated. She added that the situation has been referred to the office of the special counsel.
“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,” Criswell said. “I will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again.”
The 22,000-employee agency’s statement did not identify the worker. The individual supervised a survivor assistance team that was canvassing homes to locate people affected by Milton and in need of federal aid. A FEMA spokesperson said the agency was returning to houses assigned to the individual to ensure no one went without aid.
News of the firing was first reported by The Daily Wire on Friday, a day before Criswell’s comments. The right-wing online news outlet, co-founded by conservative firebrand Ben Shapiro, reported that a whistleblower said more than 20 homes in Lake Placid, Fla., were skipped because of Trump signs. The town is located in Highlands County, which just voted 70.1 percent for Trump.
The worker advised staff in a list of best practices to “avoid homes advertising Trump,” along with other recommendations, like practicing de-escalation, sticking with a partner and hydrating, according to photos of the messages shared by The Daily Wire.
Milton killed at least 15 people in the state in early October and caused, according to early estimates, $50 billion in damage.
While reposting The Daily Wire’s story, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wrote online that this was a “blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy.”
He wrote that the state Division of Emergency Management was investigating l “the federal government’s targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump.”
A FEMA spokesperson said the agency has reached 365,000 Florida households between Hurricanes Milton and Helene, adding that $898 million in aid has been distributed throughout the state.
(c) Washington Post