The House Homeland Security Committee is demanding interviews with several Federal Emergency Management Agency employees as it investigates possible “systemic bias” against supporters of President-elect Donald Trump at the disaster relief agency.
The Republican-led panel is seeking transcribed interviews with the supervisor of recently-fired FEMA employee Marn’i Washington and two other FEMA officials tasked with handling disaster aid in Florida in the aftermath of Washington ordering Hurricane Milton relief workers in the Sunshine State to skip houses with Trump signs – and later revealing that the practice of “avoidance” is widespread.
“The Committee on Homeland Security is investigating the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s potential discrimination against disaster victims based on political affiliation,” Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and Reps. Dan Bishop (R-NC) and Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) wrote in a Friday letter to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.
“Ms. Washington’s statement contradicts FEMA’s press release and points to a possibly systemic bias within FEMA against individuals that support President-elect Donald J. Trump,” the congressional lawmakers added.
After her firing, Washington, 39, told YouTube podcaster Roland Martin that she was simply following FEMA’s policy of avoiding “politically hostile” homes when she asked her team to “avoid homes advertising Trump” in a “best practices” memo.
“FEMA preaches avoidance first, and then de-escalation. This is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance,” Washington claimed.
“Not just in the state of Florida. You will find avoidance in the Carolinas,” she added.
Washington’s claim ran counter to Criswell’s statement, in which she argued that the fired employee violated “FEMA’s core values and principles” and “standards of conduct.”
The Republican lawmakers indicated that Homeland Security Committee is “deeply concerned that households that support President-elect Trump and even neighborhoods consisting of primarily Republican-aligned households might be receiving diminished levels of resources, manpower, and support, significantly protracting recovery following natural disasters” if the bias Washington alleged was indeed present within FEMA.
The committee asked Criswell to make FEMA’s Region 4 Administrator Robert Samaan, Deputy Region 4 Administrator Robert Ashe and Chad Hershey – Washington’s former supervisor – available for interviews with the panel by no later than Nov. 22.
FEMA did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Criswell is slated to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday in a separate congressional probe into potential bias at the agency.
