FEMA administrator says he supports investigating allegations of Trump bias in aid efforts

WASHINGTON — The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told lawmakers Tuesday that he is encouraging the agency’s inspector general to examine whether an employee acted alone when he instructed workers helping hurricane victims not to go to homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell says it’s eliminating a critical function of the agency We go door to door and meet survivors making them aware of available federal resources. He said the employee wrote to about 11 staff members under his supervision that they should “avoid homes advertising Trump.”

Criswell said the senior leadership team provided him with evidence and recommended the employee be terminated. HE agrees.

“I do not believe this employee’s actions are indicative of any widespread cultural problems at FEMA,” Criswell said. Still, he said he would support an independent investigation into the matter.

“The IG has not yet indicated that they want to investigate this, but I would encourage them to take this case and see if this is a widespread problem or an isolated incident,” Criswell said.

Criswell appeared before a House subcommittee investigating the federal government’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. He did so one day after a request from President Joe Biden. about 100 billion dollars In emergency disaster relief, approximately $40 billion of that money was allocated to FEMA programs.

While lawmakers were conducting an oversight hearing examining FEMA’s overall response to devastating storms, it was clear they were focusing specifically on reports that the agency had refrained from helping some Americans because of their political beliefs.

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., acknowledged that although the employee was quickly terminated, an interview with that employee made clear that he believed he was following instructions from the agency.

“It appears this worker believes he was being treated as a scapegoat, and if that’s the case, more people at FEMA need to be held accountable,” said Perry, who chaired the panel that held Tuesday’s hearing.

Criswell said he was determined to ensure “something like this never happens again.” Meanwhile, on the instructions of the employee, a different team was sent to the field to contact all the houses that were missed.

Rep. Chuck Edwards, RNC, whose district was devastated by Helene, said the agency’s response would be somewhat cumbersome because the mountains are not a traditional place for such flooding. Still, he mentioned numerous malfunctions. He said the storm essentially ended on Sept. 27, after which about 1 million people were left without power and 25 water systems were destroyed. But he said it took three days to get real visibility from FEMA.

“It is unacceptable that FEMA’s visibility lasted three days,” Edwards said. “There were people in their homes who didn’t have electricity, who couldn’t flush their toilets, who didn’t have drinking water. We were closed off from the rest of the world.”

Criswell said FEMA was on the ground before the hurricanes hit and was proud of the work provided by nearly 22,000 workers in six states. He said workers persevered despite the hardships created by the storms and misinformation on social media.

“We help all survivors, all people, get all the assistance they are entitled to under the law and misinformation “This makes the job even more difficult,” he said.