Posted on 11/19/24
| News Source: Washington Times
FEMA Director Deanne Criswell on Tuesday blasted an agency supervisor who directed emergency workers to avoid making contact with Florida homes with Donald Trump signs, and said she will ask her inspector general to see how deep the problem goes.
Testifying to Congress, Ms. Criswell confirmed reports that the employee did order her team to snub pro-Trump homes as they made visits to offer assistance after hurricanes blasted across Florida this fall.
“This employee wrote to about 11 staffers under her supervision that they should ’avoid homes advertising Trump,’” the director said. She said she moved quickly to fire the employee, whom she didn’t name.
The woman, Marn’i Washington, has come forward and defended her actions, saying she didn’t see it as political targeting but rather a matter of security. She said homes with Trump signs had been the scene of confrontations with FEMA personnel.
In an interview Monday with NewsNation, she said she was acting under orders from higher-ups.