Allegations Spark Scandal
A shocking scandal is brewing at FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, after a House Oversight Committee investigating the agency’s response to recent hurricanes heard testimony that accused FEMA of discriminating against Trump-supporters, during its relief operations in Florida and North Carolina.
FEMA storm crews were allegedly told to “avoid homes advertising pro-Trump” as they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida to identify residents who could qualify for federal aid, as detailed by a government press release about the hearing.
Under relentless grilling by House committee members, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell defended the agency, insisting that Marni Washington, the FEMA official who issued orders to skip over the homes of Trump supporters, was making up her own rules and that she had been fired for her “reprehensible” conduct.
Criswell denied that the agency has a policy of withholding aid from Trump supporters and said the matter was an isolated incident. She admitted that at least 20 hurricane-ravaged homes that she knew of in just one community were bypassed due to pro-Trump banners in the yards.
This fact was undeniable as notes and photos that aid workers entered in their computers about homes they purposely skipped over, were anonymously given to the Daily Wire, which published them. FEMA verified them as authentic.
According to screenshots of these internal FEMA messages, one image shows that a relief worker uploaded a photo of a property with a Trump flag, with a note from the worker stating, “Trump sign — no entry per leadership.”
Other notes left by crew members in FEMA’s tracking system stated: “Per leadership, no stop-Trump flag;’ “Trump sign;” and “Trump sign, no contact per leadership.”
By ignoring the homes, relief workers denied residents the opportunity to sign up for federal FEMA disaster relief assistance in the wake of Hurricane Milton’s landfall.
“The employee who issued this guidance had no authority to tell teams to avoid these homes, and we are reaching out to the people who may have not been reached as a result of this incident,” the FEMA administrator said.
She said she was “horrified” by Washington’s actions, and insisted that “her conduct is not indicative of any widespread cultural problems at FEMA.” Criswell also said she would welcome an investigation into the matter from the Inspector General’s Office.
Trump Supporters Cast as Domestic Terrorists
A number of congressmen at the hearing contested Criswell’s assertions, saying that reports had come in from whistleblowers testifying to a prevailing culture at FEMA that was ill-disposed toward Trump supporters.
The lawmakers testified that multiple sources had told them there was nothing unusual about Washington’s actions, that they reflected the views of her higher ups. The congressmen said that FEMA appears to have encouraged negativity toward Trump supporters dating back many years.
One whistleblower said the bias against Trump loyalists also grew out of a FEMA culture that viewed them as “domestic terrorists,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky, reported.
Comer told committee members that another whistleblower had disclosed that a FEMA contractor visited the home of an elderly disabled veteran last month, and encouraged the man and his wife to get rid of pro-Trump posters on their property.
He warned the family that his superiors do not take kindly to Trump supporters and that they view them as ‘domestic terrorists,’ Comer said.
The elderly homeowners were so frightened by this and afraid they would not recover their losses from the storm that they removed all the Trump materials from their yard, the committee chairman said. Nevertheless, FEMA has not returned to their residence.
Marni Washington, the former FEMA supervisor, while claiming she was “framed” and “scapegoated” by her agency, confirmed that FEMA looked down at Trump supporters as rabble rousers. She insisted the policy of avoiding Trump supporters was not only commonplace at FEMA but was based on “safety considerations.”
The policy has nothing to do with political targeting, Washington explained in an online statement. It’s about FEMA wanting to avoid “potentially contentious situations.”
[As if Trump supporters are prone to belligerence and it’s only reasonable for aid workers to be shielded from encounters with them.]
“This case of directing workers to avoid Trump homes is not isolated as is being claimed,” Washington said. “From my experience at FEMA, there is a colossal policy of avoidance. And not just in the state of Florida. You will find many examples of avoidance in the disaster zones of the Carolinas.”
Telltale Texts
Rep. Jim Jordan aired the allegations against FEMA at the Congressional Oversight hearing last week, calling attention to the actual wording of text messages from Washington to her FEMA team, which he highlighted on a screen.
{Ms. Washington] said it’s common practice to bypass Trump homes, but you, Ms. Criswell call it ‘reprehensible’ and ‘isolated.’ Both statements can’t be true. I’m trying to figure out who’s not telling the truth, and these texts might be our best evidence,” Jordan said.
The congressman then turned to the text message on the screen.
“Here’s a screenshot of the actual text from Ms. Washington,” Jordan said. He read the message aloud: “Follow best practices as in 1. Don’t go anywhere alone; 2. avoid homes advertising Trump; 3. practice de-escalation; 4. stay hydrated and 5. follow the rules.”
“Sounds pretty routine, doesn’t it? You get the sense this is the usual protocol,” Jordan commented. “And there’s a note of disdain between the lines here that reminds me of … It sounds like Joe Biden when he said “all the ‘garbage’ I see is the Trump supporters out there.”
Jordan referenced the criticism leveled at FEMA over its slow-paced, inadequate relief efforts for western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which killed at least 227 people.
He said a FEMA official reportedly told workers to be mindful “about the types of people who are in western North Carolina” –an unmistakable reference to citizens in pro-Trump territory.
“This disdain, this mindset that’s in the government, where conservatives are all ‘deplorable’ or ‘garbage,’ ‘types of people’ you don’t want to be around, that’s what this sounds like. This text message reminds us of that mentality.”
‘An Open Secret’
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., asserted that “reports confirm that incidents of discrimination by FEMA officials are not isolated,” citing a FEMA official who has backed up Washington’s claims.
“This official told us that the agency’s practice of avoiding homes that support President Trump as well as white or conservative areas is an open secret and has been going on for years,” Donalds said.
The Florida congressman called on Criswell to turn over to the House Oversight Committee “all communications between your supervisors, officials and field volunteers” related to whether FEMA employees have ever been under orders to withhold aid from Trump supporters and conservatives.
Internal communications, which Criswell pledged under oath to turn over, will likely open a window on much about FEMA’s internal culture that remains shrouded from public view.
In the meantime, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit last week against both Criswell and Washington, seeking punitive damages and citing whistleblower claims.
The lawsuit alleges FEMA officials conspired to discriminate against Trump supporters during their relief work in disaster-zones following Hurricane Helene. It aims to uncover “how far this political discrimination reaches,” according to a statement from Moody.
“As you can see in Florida, we’re still in recovery from the storm and still need federal help,” Moody said. “The lawsuit that Florida is pursuing – we will do so aggressively, we will seek expedited discovery. We will get to the bottom of how extensive this is.”
‘A Cancer Has Infested FEMA’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that he directed Florida’s Division of Emergency Management to look into “the federal government’s targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump.”
“The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days,” Gov. Santis wrote in a press release. “New leadership is on the way in DC, and I’m optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired,” he added.
The growing scandal drew comments from lawmakers who said their constituents were fed up with FEMA’s failures to respond adequately to Americans in storm-ravaged regions.
“President-elect Donald Trump has every right to order an overhaul at FEMA in the wake of this record of failure, Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-NY, told Newsmax.
“FEMA has been contaminated by a bureaucratic state that just doesn’t seem to take seriously the responsibility of responding to all Americans equally,” the New York Republican said. “This is a cancer that has infested FEMA.”
Molinaro lashed at out at FEMA director Criswell, saying “she can’t acknowledge that FEMA has not done well enough in responding to American citizens, yet is empowered by this administration and the DHS to continue to drive taxpayer dollars to those who are here illegally for food, shelter, and healthcare.”
FEMA is “buried in this politically charged administration” and is “putting a program to provide food, shelter, and housing to illegal immigrants first,” the congressman said. “It’s a mistake, it’s criminal, and it needs to stop.”
“Imagine if it came out that FEMA had determined that homes inhabited by blacks, or Muslims, or Jews were more likely to be “hostile,” and should therefore be deprived of aid in disaster zones. That would be unthinkable,” wrote a NY Post op-ed.
“Yet at FEMA, there are allegedly those who would rule out lending a hand to roughly half the country. In the name of safety, or equity, or whatever other pretense they might come up with.”
Rep. Greene: FEMA Funneled Money to Illegals but Abandoned Americans
Congressmen at the Oversight hearing reported that some FEMA sources had told them the policy of avoiding the homes of Trump supporters was often justified as a means of achieving “equity” (‘woke’ terminology for compensating victims of past injustice) by servicing minority communities first.
Two of the lawmakers zeroed in on the allegations that FEMA prioritizes certain communities over others based on their racial or ethnic identity, as opposed to their level of need.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said Americans are outraged that their taxpayer dollars meant for disaster victims are being funneled by FEMA to house illegal immigrants.
“In the fiscal year of 2023, FEMA spent $789 million, to shelter and house illegals in the United States,” Rep. Greene began. “This year so far, the figure is $641 million. Ms. Criswell, do you think it’s acceptable for billions of American taxpayer dollars to be spent housing people who are invading our country, while Americans in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida who are still homeless, have yet to fully receive support?”
“We have been directed by congress to administer the Shelter and Services Program [for immigrants]. If Congress chooses to change that direction, we will follow that law,” Criswell responded.
“Congress will be changing that direction, absolutely,” Greene shot back. “We’re going to put Americans first again. Americans are infuriated that tax checks they write to the government that should be used to help them in their plight after they were hit by storms, are given instead to illegals storming over our border.”
The New (Reverse) Racism
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) turned the discussion at the hearing to the issue of FEMA having been “captured by the DEI movement,” in which “equity has become prioritized over all other goals.” This had created a form of ‘reverse racism.’
“FEMA’s current strategic plan lists three goals, and the first goal is to instill equity,” Rep. Cloud pointed out, quoting from a FEMA guide produced by Criswell. “But we know that these DEI initiatives have had a discriminatory aspect.”
“We see a lot of companies that have embraced DEI until they come to realize they are being asked to proactively discriminate,” the congressman said. “To compensate the identity groups presumed to be victims of discrimination, these companies must now discriminate the other way, in favor of the presumed ‘victims’.”
Cloud singled out a provision in the FEMA manual which calls for “racial and religious minorities to be the beneficiaries of equity.”
“Which religious or racial minority is FEMA singling out as beneficiaries who get first claim on federal resources?” the congressman demanded of Criswell. “You’re asking your employees to distinguish between different groups of people based on race or religion? What is this if not outright discrimination?’
Dismantle DEI Act
In June, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance introduced the “Dismantle DEI Act of 2024” with Rep. Michael Cloud, which would eliminate all federal DEI programs and prohibit federal grant funding and contracts from promoting DEI.
The legislation passed out of the House Oversight Committee this past Thursday and is headed for debate on the House floor. The bill would eliminate the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) practices within the federal government and return to a “colorblind, merit-based system” in all taxpayer-funded institutions.
“Diversity, equity, and inclusion—these are words that, on the surface, seem to represent ideals we can all support,” the congressman explained on his website. “But DEI programs only masquerade as fairness while instead foster division, inefficiency, and discrimination in our institutions.”
In his opening remarks to the Oversight Committee which gave the bill its first push, Cloud traced the historic fight against discrimination Americans have waged over the centuries, only to have much of these achievements rolled back by DEI ideology and practices.
“From the abolition of slavery to the victories of the civil rights movement, Americans have worked tirelessly to right the wrongs of discrimination,” he said. “Yet DEI policies threaten to codify new forms of discrimination, undoing the very progress that so many have bled and sacrificed to secure.”
“Under the guise of progress, this ideology seeks to categorize individuals based on color, gender or national origin, rather than valuing the content of their character or their individual achievements,” Cloud elaborated.
“True justice is—and must remain—blind,” the congressman urged. “It should not consider race, sex, or other characteristics when evaluating an individual. Instead, it must focus on fairness, merit, and equal opportunity.” [See Sidebar]
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Biden Spent $100 Million To Embed DEI Across America
Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Tx, while soliciting support for the “Dismantle DEI Act” before the House Oversight Committee, noted that “under President Biden, federal DEI programs have ballooned, costing taxpayers billions and forcing American institutions to prioritize identity politics over excellence to comply with DEI goals.
For example, in 2023 alone, the Biden administration allocated over $16 million for federal diversity training and requested an additional $83 million for DEI programs at the State Department.
“DEI initiatives have not only failed to achieve their stated goals but have also resulted in absurd programs that drain resources while dividing our nation,” Cloud said. “Worse, they sometimes lead to unqualified individuals being placed in critical roles for the sake of meeting DEI benchmarks, jeopardizing public safety.”
One immediately thinks of recent DEI appointees such as Secret Service director Kim Cheatle and former president of Harvard Claudine Gay, both of whom recently resigned from their posts in disgrace, after their incompetence plunged their respective institutions into crisis.
Experts say former presidential candidate Kamala Harris was another DEI pick, selected as President Biden’s vice president largely for being female and black. Her wholesale lack of merit as a leader or a person with a vision was frequently on display during the presidential election.
It stood out perhaps most memorably when asked which of President Biden’s policies she would change if elected. After pausing to think, she came up with this erudite response: “Nothing comes to mind.”
President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to take immediate steps to uproot woke ideology from the government as soon as he takes office. While closing down internal DEI programs, his administration might well target similar programs in education and corporate America.
“If Trump is successful in his campaign to end woke discrimination, he’ll go down in history as one of the greatest presidents for the promise of racial neutrality in America,” legal expert at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Judicial Studies, told the Daily Caller.
