WASHINGTON — A supervisor with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been dismissed following allegations that she directed staff to avoid providing assistance to homes displaying support for President-elect Donald Trump. The directive reportedly left at least 20 Florida homeowners without aid in the wake of Hurricane Milton.
She is now blaming Trump supporters for being hostile to FEMA, and said the ‘avoidance event’ was directed from the top down and she did not act independently.
She justified her actions, saying that there were incident reports that suggested Trump supporters being a danger or threat to FEMA workers.
“They had the Trump campaign signage,” she said.
Marn’i Washington, 38, allegedly instructed her team through a group chat in late October and early November to skip homes with pro-Trump signs while conducting relief efforts in Lake Placid, Florida, according to a report from The Daily Wire. The directive reportedly sparked complaints from other FEMA employees, who said the guidance led to the exclusion of multiple homes from federal disaster relief services.
In response to public outcry, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell announced on Saturday that Washington had been terminated. “This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation,” Criswell said in a statement, calling Washington’s actions “reprehensible.”
Washington, however, disputed FEMA’s account, claiming that her actions were in line with broader agency policy. She alleged that avoiding homes with politically affiliated signage was a standard practice encouraged by FEMA leadership and said similar instructions had been given to staff responding to disaster areas in the Carolinas. “Stating that I was fired, they all alleged that these actions were made on my own recognizance and that it was for my own political advances,” Washington said. “But if you look at the record, there is what we call a community trend … FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation.”
Washington further claimed that senior FEMA officials were aware of the practice and were now attempting to distance themselves. She urged the agency to release incident reports from Disaster Survivor Assistance (DSA) teams, which she believes would corroborate her account. “Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know,” she said. “But if you ask the DSA crew leads and specialists what they are experiencing in the field, they will tell you.”
FEMA has not commented further on Washington’s claims, and no additional reports or data have been released to substantiate her allegations of a broader policy. The controversy has sparked concerns over potential bias within federal disaster response operations, and members of Congress have called for an investigation into the claims.
The incident comes at a sensitive time for FEMA, which is tasked with responding to a series of natural disasters across the country. The agency has faced scrutiny in recent years over its handling of high-profile emergencies and is under pressure to ensure equitable distribution of aid regardless of political affiliations.
