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+--- Thread: Article FEMA agent did tell relief workers to skip Trump supporters (admitted AFTER election) (/thread-16798.html)
FEMA agent did tell relief workers to skip Trump supporters (admitted AFTER election) - C C - Nov 10, 2024
FEMA fires employee who told Florida relief workers to skip Trump supporters
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/09/fema-fires-employee-who-told-relief-workers-to-skip-trump-supporters.html
RELEASE: The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Saturday confirmed that it fired an employee who had instructed relief workers in Florida to not go to homes with yard signs in support of then presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell wrote in a statement. “This was reprehensible.”
The Daily Wire first reported on Friday that the now-terminated FEMA supervisor had ordered her employees to exclude Trump-supportive houses from their recovery efforts.
“I will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again,” Criswell said in the statement. Criswell added that the matter had been referred to the Office of Special Counsel for an investigation.
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday blasted the Biden administration for the incident and said he had ordered the Division of Emergency Management to investigate the “targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump.”
“The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days,” DeSantis wrote in a post on X.
The firing comes days after Trump won the presidency against Vice President Kamala Harris, but weeks into the recovery effort of Hurricane Milton, which ravaged neighborhoods along Florida’s Gulf Coast.
At the time of the hurricane damage, Criswell slammed Trump for spreading misinformation about the status of FEMA’s disaster relief funding.
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FEMA official ordered relief workers to skip houses with Trump signs
https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs
EXCERPT: It is unclear whether the same guidance was issued elsewhere in the country. The employees were part of a Department of Homeland Security surge capacity force team, meaning they volunteered from other DHS agencies to help an understaffed FEMA as it dealt with a second major hurricane in a span of just a few weeks.
“I know they’re short-staffed, I thought we could go help and make a difference,” one of the employees said. “When we got there we were told to discriminate against people. It’s almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that’s okay.”
The employee said it felt wrong to discriminate against Trump supporters when they were at their “most vulnerable.”
“I volunteered to help disaster victims, not discriminate against them,” the employee said. “It didn’t matter if people were black, white, Hispanic, for Trump, for Harris. Everyone deserves the same amount of help.”
The guidance came as the Biden administration was criticized over its sluggish response to Hurricane Helene in rural areas across the country. In Roan Mountain, Tennessee, for example, locals told The Daily Wire it took nearly two weeks for FEMA to show up. The town is located in Carter County, which voted 81% for Trump on Tuesday.
The FEMA agents ordered not to help houses with Trump signs were operating in Highlands County, a deep-red area located in south central Florida that backed Trump by 70% on Tuesday. It was hit with tornadoes, torrential wind and rain, and flooding when Milton hit in October.
[...] “This behavior raises significant concerns of discrimination against United States citizens because of their political views,” a copy of the complaint obtained by The Daily Wire said. “These actions not only undermine the integrity of our agency and create a hostile work environment for those who may hold differing political beliefs but they also threaten the very democracy of our country.”
RE: FEMA agent did tell relief workers to skip Trump supporters (admitted AFTER election) - C C - Nov 14, 2024
(podcast) Is FEMA apology the end of the story that disaster relief teams avoided Trump supporters?
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/11/12/realclearpolitics_is_fema_apology_the_end_of_the_story_that_disaster_relief_teams_avoided_trump_supporters.html
EXCERPTS: The guys on Monday's edition of the RealClearPolitics radio show discussed whether an apology from FEMA will be the end of the story, first reported by the Daily Wire, that some disaster relief teams were ordered to avoid houses with Donald Trump campaign signs during the cleanup from Hurricane Milton last month.
"It really happened, and it's outrageous," said RCP co-founder Tom Bevan. "Of all the stories we've seen this election season, this one might be the most outrageous. To have the government deciding who does and does not get disaster aid based on their political affiliations, or whether they have Trump signs in their yards, is just the absolute antithesis of this country."
"And again, we were told by the media that this was not happening and didn't happen. This is the thing. Because the media didn't have any proof at the time, they said it couldn't possibly be happening, instead of saying it's a possibility and we should look into it," Bevan said.
[...] "Well, it turned out that the editor's instinct was right, they were just looking in the wrong state -- it was in Florida...