The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told lawmakers Tuesday she has encouraged the agency’s inspector general to review whether an employee was acting alone when directing workers helping hurricane victims not to go to homes with yards signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said a critical function of the agency is to go door-to-door and meet with survivors to make them aware of federal resources available. The employee, she said, wrote to about 11 staffers under her supervision that they should “avoid homes advertising Trump.”
Criswell said her senior leadership team provided her with evidence and recommended that the employee be terminated. She concurred.
“I do not believe that this employee’s actions are indicative of any widespread cultural problems at FEMA,” Criswell said. Still, she said she would support an independent investigation into the matter.
“The IG has not yet stated they want to investigate this, but I highly encourage them to take on this case and look and see if this was a widespread issue or if this was just a single incident,” Criswell said.
Criswell appeared before a House subcommittee investigating the federal government’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. She did so one day following President Joe Biden’s request for nearly $100 billion in emergency disaster aid, with about $40 billion of that money slated for FEMA programs.