The Federal Emergency Management Agency employee who was fired after advising her disaster relief team to skip homes with yard signs supporting Donald Trump has broken her silence.
Marn’i Washington, who says she was let go by FEMA after the messages were leaked, claimed in an interview with reporter Roland Martin that it is common practice among officials to skip homes – regardless of their demonstrated political affiliation – that have hostile residents.
“Once we start seeing a trend, for example, if they just so happen to have these Trump campaign signs in front of their home, and that’s the characteristic that’s coming along with that, we have to proceed with precaution,” Washington told Martin on Monday.
“FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation,” she added. “So this is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance, not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas.”
Washington also said that she believes FEMA officials knew the text was not politically driven.
“You’re saying that they are aware that this is not politically driven, it is driven based upon the hostility shown towards FEMA workers in the field?” Martin asked Washington.
“Yes,” she responded.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell condemned the text messages when they were leaked last week.
“This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation,” Criswell said in a post on X on Saturday. “This was reprehensible.”
“I want to be clear to all of my employees and the American people, this type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct,” she added.
The Independent has contacted FEMA for comment.
This incident comes after Hurricanes Helene and Milton killed hundreds and devastated communities across the southeastern US. Following these storms, FEMA found itself at the center of right-wing conspiracy theories.
Trump falsely claimed last month that federal disaster funds were stolen and given to “illegal immigrants” as Hurricane Helene slammed the southeastern US.
“They stole the FEMA money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season,” Trump said at a campaign event in Michigan on Thursday.
Trump also later claimed FEMA is offering just “$750 to people whose homes have been washed away.”
“And yet we send tens of billions of dollars to foreign countries that most people have never heard of,” he said. “They’re offering them $750. They’ve been destroyed. These people have been destroyed.”
However, FEMA debunked this claim on its website, noting that the $750 payment is just one type of aid – known as Serious Needs Assistance – that survivors can apply for.
Meanwhile, Criswell has been called to testify at a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on November 19, the committee chair James Comer wrote in a letter Saturday.
“This hearing will address FEMA’s response to recent major natural disasters, including Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and permit members to investigate recent reports that a FEMA official instructed relief workers to bypass hurricane-impacted homes displaying campaign signs for President Trump,” the letter reads.
“In the wake of the recent major disasters that impacted Americans of all political persuasions, it is critical that FEMA adheres to its disaster relief mission.”
