(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency sat through two congressional hearings yesterday, promising them that FEMA isn’t biased against Trump supporters, and that the recent incident of FEMA workers avoiding pro-Trump homes was isolated.
“I do not believe that this employee’s actions are indicative of any widespread cultural problems at FEMA,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said of her now-fired employee, who told about 11 staffers under her supervision that they should “avoid homes advertising Trump.” (The fired worker, for her part, claims that avoiding pro-Trump homes is an agency-wide policy at FEMA.)
But after the two hearings, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., announced that he received another whistleblower disclosure about FEMA’s anti-Trump bias. According to Comer, the whistleblower was with a FEMA contractor who visited the home of an elderly disabled veteran’s family around Oct. 10.
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My staff just made contact with a new whistleblower who provided a credible account that a FEMA contractor visited the home of an elderly disabled veteran's family around October 10. While there, he recommended that the family remove Trump campaign materials and signs…
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) November 19, 2024
“While there, [the FEMA contractor] recommended that the family remove Trump campaign materials and signs from their house and yard, stating that his FEMA supervisors view Trump supporters as domestic terrorists,” Comer said.
“The elderly homeowners were so frightened by this and afraid that they would not recover their loss that they removed the signs. Nevertheless, FEMA has not returned to their residence. This took place not in Florida, but Georgia.”
The hearings that took place prior to Comer’s disclosure were about the federal government’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
While lawmakers were conducting an oversight hearing looking at the overall response by FEMA to the devastating storms, they were particularly focused on reports about the agency avoiding helping some Americans based on their political beliefs.
Some 7,500 FEMA workers were still deployed as of last week in states hit by Helene and Milton. Criswell asked lawmakers to ensure that FEMA and its partners have adequate resources in the following months, saying “the road ahead is long.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
