The administrator committed to requesting an independent investigation.
An internal Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) investigation found “no evidence” that a directive to hurricane relief workers to avoid the homes of President-elect Donald Trump’s supporters came from senior agency officials, according to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.
The statement follows backlash over the revelation that a FEMA supervisor ordered Hurricane Milton relief workers canvassing in Lake Placid, Florida, to “avoid homes advertising Trump.”
The employee in question, Marn’i Washington, has since been terminated for issuing orders that Criswell said were “completely at odds with FEMA’s mission.”
“My senior leadership team provided me with this visual evidence that the employee had, in fact, issued this statement, these instructions, and they recommended that this employee be terminated. I concurred and directed the termination, and the employee was fired,” Criswell advised members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Nov. 19.
While the administrator said such behavior “will not be tolerated at FEMA,” she added that she did not believe Washington’s actions were indicative of widespread cultural problems at the agency.
Washington, however, has told a different story.
In a slew of interviews with various media outlets, Washington, who held the lowest supervisory role of crew lead, accused FEMA of using her as a scapegoat. The directive, she alleged, was not hers but originated from higher up the chain of command as a safety precaution based on incidents in the field.
“It just so happened that, unfortunately, most of the hostile encounters, those running trends, did have those [Trump] campaign signs,” Washington told NewsNation on Nov. 18.
“So again, it’s a collective effort in order for everyone to feel comfortable, in order to render the servitude. I don’t have a horse in that race. My orders come from my superior, and I simply just execute.”
Citing Washington’s claims, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) asked Criswell whether the former employee’s superiors had been looked into as part of the ongoing investigation.
“The investigation includes those that were deployed in this particular incident, and we have found no evidence that there is anything beyond this one employee’s specific direction,” Criswell replied.
Pressed on whether she would request an independent investigation conducted by the Office of the Inspector General, she said she would.President Joe Biden asked Congress on Nov. 18 to approve roughly $100 billion in emergency funding to support disaster relief efforts, including $40 billion for FEMA.
Lawmakers approved $20 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) in September with their passage of a short-term funding bill. But the agency is burning through those funds fast after two devastating hurricanes, with only about $5 billion left, according to Rep. Dina Titus (D-N.V.).
“Congress must pass the supplemental to sufficiently fund the DRF so FEMA can continue to support ongoing recovery efforts, as well as address those that will undoubtedly emerge in the future,” Titus said at the hearing.
Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) said he found it “ridiculous” that FEMA could find the money to house and feed illegal immigrants and cover their travel costs but was running out of funds to help U.S. citizens in need.
“We have a debt right now, $35 trillion as a nation, and we’re helping out citizens of other countries when we’re not even meeting the fundamental needs of our own citizens,” Graves said. “This really is an unacceptable situation.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has signaled that he will push the 2025 appropriations process into January 2025, when Republicans will have control of Congress and the White House.
“We’re running out of clock; December 20 is the deadline,” Johnson told Fox News on Nov. 17, referring to the date government funding is set to expire.
“We’re still hopeful we might be able to get that done, but if not, we will have a temporary measure. I think it would go into the first part of next year and allow us the necessary time to get this done.”
Emel Akan contributed to this report.