‘Clear Violation’: FEMA Confirms Now-Fired Employee Told Workers Not To Help People With Trump Signs During Hurricane Relief
AP Photo/Makiya Seminera
An employee who worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency was fired on Saturday after she told workers engaged in relief after Hurricane Milton in Florida they should not assist at homes with Trump signs in their yards.
FEMA head Deanne Criswell announced the employee had been terminated after the story was first reported Friday by the conservative news outlet The Daily Wire.
The website reported that “a FEMA supervisor told workers in a message to ‘avoid homes advertising Trump’ as they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida to identify residents who could qualify for federal aid, internal messages viewed by The Daily Wire reveal.”
Criswell, who has served as FEMA Administrator since 2021, confirmed the reporting in a statement on Saturday that she posted on social media in which she said the agency’s “core values” had been violated. Criswell shared a Fox News post on X wrote:
More than 22,000 FEMA employees every day adhere to FEMA’s core values and are dedicated to helping people before, during and after disasters, often sacrificing time with their own families to help disaster survivors. Recently, a FEMA employee departed from these values to advise her survivor assistance team to not go to homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Trump. This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values & principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.
This was reprehensible. 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. We take our mission to help everyone before, during and after disasters seriously. This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel. I will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again.
The agency is launching an investigation into the incident, the New York Times noted on Saturday, and is reaching out to Hurricane victims whose homes may have been bypassed for relief.
The Daily Wire reported the guidance against helping Americans who supported Trump was sent in a group text for a Department of Homeland Security surge capacity force team.
