The hearing was called after reports emerged that FEMA employees were instructed not to render aid to Trump supporters in Florida.
Washington, D.C. – The head of the Federal Emergency Management Administration faced a grilling from House Republicans Tuesday over a former employee’s directive to discriminate against Trump supporters, insisting the incident was a one-off and not reflective of a broader culture at the agency.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell testified Tuesday before the House Oversight Committee and faced a barrage of questions from Republicans on fired FEMA employee Marn’i Washington’s order to emergency responders in Highlands County, Florida to avoid aiding residents with Trump signs displayed at their homes.
The Daily Wire first reported on Washington’s order earlier this month based on internal correspondence and confirmation from multiple federal employees. The story came after FEMA took heat from conservatives for what critics argued was a slow disaster response to the destruction Hurricanes Helene and Milton wrought across the southeast.
Washington was quickly terminated after her conduct sparked public outcry and intensified the criticism directed at FEMA. Last week, Washington appeared on Roland Martin Unfiltered to defend her actions, explaining that her directive to avoid the homes of Trump supporters was consistent with FEMA policy to avoid hostile interactions. The practice was approved by agency leaders and became widespread after Trump supporters repeatedly threatened FEMA employees who came to their homes offering assistance, she said.
“In the wake of Hurricane Milton, at least one FEMA official engaged in political discrimination against supporters of President Trump. This official ordered employees to discriminate against vulnerable Americans affected by a hurricane when they needed assistance the most,” Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) said in his opening statement
“We only know this because one whistleblower was brave enough to come forward. But others knew about this and said nothing. And FEMA leadership didn’t take action against this supervisor until the press exposed this discrimination. More importantly, FEMA officials did not immediately end the discrimination.”
Displayed behind Comer was internal correspondence from a Microsoft Teams group chat with bulleted instructions for best practices. One of those practices was to avoid Trump supporters’ homes as they searched for people in need of aid around Lake Placid, Florida.
Criswell began the hearing by outlining FEMA’s disaster aid and referring to the written testimony she submitted with a detailed description of FEMA’s extensive disaster operations to save lives and provide for people’s most immediate needs. In her written testimony, she acknowledged the difficulties of reaching areas in western North Carolina that experienced once-in-a-century flooding. Those parts of North Carolina experienced widespread road damage and bridge closures that made it much harder for federal workers to get to them.
She said she was “very concerned” about Washington’s instructions to employees and terminated Washington after senior leadership showed the evidence of Washington’s orders.
“I do not believe this employee’s actions are indicative of any widespread cultural problems at FEMA,” Criswell asserted. She announced that she sent a new team to reach the homes in Florida that were skipped under Washington’s supervision. The order from Washington resulted in 20 homes being skipped because of political affiliation.
Republicans from areas afflicted by the hurricanes such as Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Representative Byron Donalds of Florida pressed Criswell on their constituents’ experience with bureaucratic difficulties in getting help from FEMA. They similarly demanded Criswell explain other news reports suggesting that political bias was common inside FEMA and that Washington’s actions were not unusual.
In response, Criswell deferred to the ongoing internal investigation of Washington’s behavior and said she requested FEMA’s inspector general conduct an independent probe to uncover any other potential acts of political discrimination. The alleged instructions from Washington’s supervisor to commit political discrimination are part of the ongoing investigation, Criswell said.
The internal communications on “best practices” reported by the Daily Wire were shared to 13 people. Criswell told Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) the instructions to avoid Trump homes were not in accordance with FEMA guidelines.
Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R., Fla.) questioned Criswell on Washington’s claims that she continued to have access to her FEMA portal after her termination and noticed that information was deleted. Criswell was not aware of anything being deleted and said the information would be retained on a permanent record.
On numerous occasions, Criswell contradicted Washington’s assertions and denied the existence of other incidents of political discrimination. She similarly insisted that FEMA does not have any policy that would encourage employees to allocate aid based on political identification and promised disciplinary action for those found to have committed such acts.
Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) and his Democratic colleagues universally condemned Washington’s conduct, but preferred to focus on the heroic efforts of most FEMA employees in communities reeling from hurricane damage.
Democrats frequently brought up President-elect Donald Trump’s alleged hesitation to help Democratic areas with disaster relief during his first administration and online “disinformation” about FEMA that generated reluctance to engage with them.
Criswell repeatedly criticized online “disinformation” and claimed it is making FEMA’s job of getting assistance to citizens in need more difficult than it needs to be. She told Representative Maxwell Frost (R., Fla.) that online falsehoods about disaster relief are increasing and reached never-before-seen levels during Hurricane Helene.
Republicans connected Washington’s behavior to a broader problem of government inefficiency and political bias among administrative state employees whose employment could be under threat from the incoming Trump administration.