Chair of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer (R-KY), revealed that a new whistleblower has come forward alleging another incident of discrimination at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The allegations point to a FEMA contractor who suggested disaster victims with signs supporting Donald Trump outside their homes were viewed by officials as “domestic terrorists.”
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The allegations are nothing short of startling, and if true, they would blow a massive hole in the testimony provided by agency Administrator Deanne Criswell.
Criswell, testifying before the committee, insisted an incident in Lake Placid, Florida, in which a supervisor directed employees to avoid any damaged homes with Trump signs outside when they were canvassing the area after Hurricane Milton, was isolated.
Marn’i Washington was fired over that incident but quickly went public with allegations that her actions were a more widespread directive.
Comer’s bombshell post on X seems to suggest Ms. Washington was not, in fact, a lone official engaging in such practices. The new accusation is centered around an elderly disabled veteran’s family in Georgia.
“My staff just made contact with a new whistleblower who provided a credible account that a FEMA contractor visited the home of an elderly disabled veteran’s family around October 10,” Comer stated. “While there, he recommended that the family remove Trump campaign materials and signs from their house and yard, stating that his FEMA supervisors view Trump supporters as domestic terrorists.”
“The elderly homeowners were so frightened by this and afraid that they would not recover their loss that they removed the signs. Nevertheless, FEMA has not returned to their residence. This took place not in Florida, but Georgia.”
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The timing of this alleged incident also coincides with Hurricane Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm that killed 35 people (32 in the United States) and caused an estimated $85 billion in damage, according to initial estimates .
It’s truly heartbreaking to think that government officials, in a time of need for an elderly man who served his country, would actually instill fear in him and his family over worries they were being scrutinized as “domestic terrorists.”
Criswell, in a statement to the House committee, insisted what happened in Florida was the result of one singular rogue official.
“One FEMA employee departed from these values to advise her survivor assistance team to not go to homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Trump,” she said. “This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. This was reprehensible.”
Washington had already countered that narrative as she took off on a media tour in which she refused to be the scapegoat. She said the case, which showed messages between her and recovery workers stating to “avoid homes advertising Trump” and log entries indicating “Trump sign no entry per leadership,” was more common than was being reported.
“FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation, so this is not isolated,” Washington said. “This is a colossal event of avoidance not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas.”
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The entire ordeal led to a retroactive analysis of what happened with Hurricane Helene, where numerous stories of late or nonexistent federal responses cropped up in heavily Republican areas in western North Carolina.
Now, Georgia is in the mix, according to the new whistleblower.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), during a House Oversight Committee hearing on FEMA Tuesday, declared that FEMA needs to be entirely revamped based on their inadequate response efforts to recent natural disasters.
“The No. 1 thing that hurts FEMA’s reputation is the fact that so many citizens are denied when they apply the first time they come through the FEMA portal,” he said. “And if they have to go through congressional offices to get help… if that is going to be the protocol for our citizens to get help, from the emergency management agency, then it needs to be completely revamped.”
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Criswell, in response to questioning by Donalds, again insisted there is no policy against helping people with a particular political persuasion.
“There is nothing in any of our policies, our training, or our information sent out to field workers, to avoid any home for whatever reason, especially not because of a political affiliation,” Criswell said. “The actions of this one individual are not representative of the work that we do at FEMA.”
Donalds, though, is demanding “accountability” at the agency and said FEMA must “turn over all communications between Supervisors, Field Directors, and Upper-Level Management at the agency.”
It seems a more thorough investigation needs to be undertaken to see just how widespread this attitude of abandoning Trump supporters during an emergency has become.