Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell told two U.S. House panels on Tuesday that there was no evidence that an order to deny emergency aid to Donald Trump supporters went beyond a single fraudulent employee – although Criswell said it welcomes a thorough investigation to confirm this.
A long line of Republicans condemned the actions of a lower-level agency leader who worked in Florida after Hurricane Milton. The supervisor told her team to avoid approaching houses that supported Trump, then the Republican nominee for the 2024 election and now president-elect.
Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, with oversight of FEMA, and the House Oversight and Accountability Committee were largely sympathetic to Criswell. They thanked her for terminating the employee, but still wondered whether the agency was plagued by a larger culture of political bias.
Criswell repeatedly told the panel that the incident appeared to be an isolated incident. She added that the agency was conducting an internal investigation to determine whether other employees were involved.
The fired employee, Marn’i Washington, was not named at this morning’s transportation and infrastructure hearing has openly discussed the matter with the news media. Members of the Oversight Committee named Washington during the afternoon hearing.
“This employee’s actions are unacceptable and do not represent FEMA’s culture, and I do not believe there is a widespread cultural problem,” Criswell said at the transportation and infrastructure hearing. “I have been leading the ongoing investigation, working with the (Inspector General of Homeland Security) and the Office of Special Counsel, and if we find any further similar conduct, we will take appropriate disciplinary action.”
Criswell said the employee ordered about 11 subordinates to leave houses with Trump signs. About 20 homes in Florida were passed over, she said.
Bigger problem?
At the urging of Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Chairman Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, Criswell said she would request an inspector general investigation.
Perry and other GOP members said they were continuing to investigate allegations from Washington that their orders to avoid searching homes with Trump signs were part of a broader policy within the agency.
“If that’s the case, more people at FEMA need to be held accountable,” Perry said.
At the Oversight Committee’s afternoon hearing, Chairman James Comer of Kentucky said a politicized public service workforce is a problem throughout the federal bureaucracy.
“Although today’s hearing will focus on FEMA, the issue at hand is part of a larger issue: the urgent need to hold unelected, unaccountable federal employees accountable to the American people and the duly elected President of the United States,” he said. “In his first term, President Trump faced not only open insubordination from federal employees who refused to help implement his policies, but also more subtle practices aimed at thwarting elements of his agenda.”
While FEMA’s internal investigation is ongoing, Criswell could only say that she “has seen no evidence that this was anything other than an individual’s specific instructions to her team.”
She added that investigators interviewed “other personnel” in the employee’s chain of command and “found no information at this time that any action was taken to jump and bypass a house outside of her direction to her employees.”
She told House Oversight Committee member Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, that she would comply with any committee requests for information or regulatory notices.
Republicans on both panels praised Criswell’s handling of the immediate situation.
“I think you did your job, and I think you did it well,” Minnesota Republican Pete Stauber told Criswell. “They terminated this employee who used the federal government as a weapon as quickly as possible. And I think we need to do more of that.”
Democrats warn against misinformation
Democrats on both committees also condemned Washington’s actions while warning that misinformation had made the work of FEMA workers more arduous.
Dina Titus of Nevada, the ranking Democrat on the transportation and infrastructure panel, said she was “very upset” when she learned of the incident.
“I condemn the employee’s decision,” she said. “This should never be the case, and Administrator Criswell immediately did the right thing when she learned of this incident by firing the employee and referring the case to the Office of Special Counsel.”
Washington has defended its actions in part by saying the agency’s policy is to avoid confrontations in post-disaster acquisitions.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, a Democrat in charge of the regulator, called the ruling “a serious legal and constitutional error that violates the core mission of FEMA and every federal agency to work on behalf of all Americans.”
“Using a presidential campaign lawn sign as a proxy for someone’s dangerousness is clearly wrong and divisive,” he said.
Democrats on both panels complained of an environment rife with misinformation that could fuel hostility toward federal aid workers.
“I was disgusted by the ridiculous rumors that were circulating warning people that the government would loot their communities, seize their homes and divert disaster aid to other programs,” Titus said.
Raskin said FEMA responders encountered “a cloud of propaganda and lies concocted to undermine the public’s trust in FEMA.”
“Because of this disinformation, many hurricane victims have refused federal assistance and others have even harassed and threatened FEMA workers,” he said.
Trump’s retaliation
Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, a Republican transportation and infrastructure representative, urged Democrats to be wary of denying FEMA aid to opponents of a presidential administration.
“People on the other side of the aisle should know that if it happens to us, it could happen to them,” he said.
Democrats noted that Trump had threatened to withhold FEMA aid during his first term because of his political affiliation.
Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat, criticized the “hypocrisy” of Republicans on the oversight board who denounced the political targeting of Trump supporters without acknowledging that Trump reportedly had to be persuaded to send aid to disaster zones that he considered strongly democratic.
Last updated on November 19, 2024 at 5:09 p.m
