Republican senators led by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) are demanding that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) hand over records regarding its survivor assistance teams reportedly skipping over homes displaying pro-Trump signs or flags, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.
A former FEMA supervisor last week admitted to instructing her team — who were visiting homes in Lake Placid, Florida, after Hurricanes Helene and Milton — to skip homes with Trump signage, but claimed it was not an “isolated” event. She said it was happening in North and South Carolina and that senior FEMA leadership were aware of it.
WATCH — Jim Jordan Rails Against FEMA Chief Deanne Criswell for FEMA Withholding Aid Against MAGA Households:
Tillis, along with 18 other Republican senators, sent FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell a letter Tuesday demanding she hand over all relevant communications between the former supervisor, Marn’i Washington, and her team, the number of homes that were skipped, and the reason they were skipped.
The senators also asked what FEMA did after it was made aware of Washington instructing her team to skip those homes, what the agency will do to look into her claim it was not an isolated incident, and if it is against the law for FEMA leadership to direct staff to skip homes based on political beliefs. Lastly, they asked what FEMA will do to contact skipped homes.
The letter was signed by Tillis, Ted Budd (R-NC), Mike Braun (R-IN), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), John Cornyn (R-TX), Joni K. Ernst (R-IA), John Kennedy (R-LA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), James E. Risch (R-ID), James Lankford (R-OK), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Tim Scott (R-SC), Rick Scott (R-FL), John Boozman (R-AR), Susan M. Collins (R-ME), and John Hoeven (R-ND).
They said in the letter:
FEMA’s mission is ‘helping people before, during, and after disasters.’ When a natural disaster overwhelms state and local resources, FEMA is the option of last resort to help American families rebuild their lives in times of great distress and upheaval. For a FEMA employee to withhold aid or support from a household due to political affiliation is unacceptable and frankly reprehensible. While there are many dedicated public servants who are working around the clock to help disaster survivors at their most vulnerable point, it is clear that FEMA has fallen well short of its core mission to provide disaster relief to all Americans impacted by a natural disaster.
While we appreciate your swift condemnation of these actions and termination of the responsible employee, your former employee has made subsequent claims that this was not an isolated incident, even happening in Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene brought devastating rains and floods the likes of which we have never seen. The idea that citizens, whose tax dollars fund FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) and pay FEMA officials’ salaries, may be purposely excluded from vitally needed aid is chilling and further erodes many people’s already tenuous trust in this administration.
We demand answers, accountability, and transparency to hold your agency accountable to the American people and ensure that FEMA employees are providing support to all victims.
They concluded, “Given the shocking and reprehensible nature of these allegations, our constituents deserve immediate answers and maximum transparency. As Members of Congress, we are committed to holding those responsible accountable and making sure that rank weaponization against the American public is never tolerated.”
They gave Criswell until December 3 for answers.
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