FEMA Official Who Bypassed Trump Homes Cites Agency Protocol

An employee who was terminated from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for ordering government workers to bypass homes of Trump supporters said she was simply following standard operating procedure.

On Friday, the Daily Wire reported that FEMA supervisor Marn’i Washington had instructed staff to “avoid homes advertising Trump” while “they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida to identify residents who could qualify for federal aid” after Hurricane Milton tore through the region in early October.

“Government employees told The Daily Wire that at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were skipped from the end of October and into November due to the guidance, meaning they were not given the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance,” the outlet reported. “Images shared with The Daily Wire show that houses were skipped over by the workers, who wrote in the government system messages such as: ‘Trump sign no entry per leadership.’”

Washington was promptly fired from the agency, and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell condemned the conduct as “a clear violation of FEMA’s core values & principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.”

“This was reprehensible,” Criswell said. “This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel.”

Washington, however, who was also terminated from her private sector job at a property management company, said in an interview with the Black Star Network published late Monday night that she was just following FEMA’s standard operating procedure.

“FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation,” Washington said. “This is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance, not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas. Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know.”

Washington said FEMA’s guidelines recommend agency employees steer clear of disaster-stricken streets where crews are encountering trends in hostility.

“Unfortunately, it just so happened that the political hostility that was encountered by my team,” she said, “… just so happened to have the Trump campaign signage.”

“If we are noticing on, for example, on Mary Street … we were greeted with unwelcomed arms or people are coming out with guns blazing or screaming at us, then that’s a street we need to avoid altogether,” Washington added.

When reached for comment Tuesday, FEMA referred The Federalist to the previous statement from the administrator.

Writer David Marcus wrote on X that if FEMA’s official policy were to skip homes with yard signs for any particular candidate, that would amount to a de facto government-sponsored social credit system. Washington’s mention of a “colossal event of avoidance” seems to indicate that FEMA bypassing Trump supporters based on a perception of hostility is a widespread occurrence.

In her interview with Roland Martin, Washington, who made clear she did not vote in this year’s election because of her FEMA deployments, said she is also aware of teams that felt compelled to skip streets based on hostility from homes with Democrat yard signs too.

“There is record of that in the past,” Washington said. “What you have to understand is everybody is not happy with FEMA.”

“Because if their applications are not approved, or something didn’t go the way they expected it to go, sometimes when we come back around for another disaster, they don’t want to see us, and they passionately let us know,” she said.

Washington welcomed an opportunity to testify before congressional investigators and said, “I also have female employees that have called me and said they will come forward and they will tell their stories.”

Those who have demonstrated hostility toward FEMA take “issue … with FEMA’s infrastructure and how they implement duty,” Washington said. “It does need to be revamped. … There is a problem with FEMA.”

Washington said that FEMA scapegoated her to appease President-Elect Donald Trump, claiming that the agency had “exploited,” “mishandled,” and “mistreated” her.

Last Saturday, House Republican Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky sent a letter to FEMA inviting the administrator to testify over the debacle.

“In the wake of the recent major disasters that impacted Americans of all political persuasions, it is critical that FEMA adheres to its disaster relief mission,” Comer said.

FEMA fell under a firestorm of criticism this fall when Americans whose lives were upended by major storms struggled to receive federal relief from the disaster agency that has spent hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars on illegal immigrants.

“FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters on Air Force One in October.

Hurricane Helene had just flooded the southern United States with 40 trillion gallons of water washing away entire Appalachian towns.

The official Atlantic hurricane season ends on Nov. 30.

Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at [email protected]. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.