Marn’i Washington, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) supervisor fired for not helping supporters of President-elect Donald Trump, said Tuesday that this occurrence was not an “isolated” incident.
Washington, formerly a FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance crew leader for Highland County, ordered workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” while seeking for residents qualified for hurricane relief in Lake Placid, Florida. After getting fired over the incident, Washington told journalist Roland Martin that FEMA’s avoidance of Trump supporters is a “colossal event” that also occurred in North and South Carolina that had been left in devastation after Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“They all alleged that these actions were made on my own recognizes and from my own political advances,” Washington said. “However, if you look at the record, there is what we call a community trend and unfortunately, it just so happened that the political hostility that was encountered by my team — and I was on two different teams during my own deployment — they just so happened to have the Trump campaign signage. FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then deescalation, 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.”
“Senior leadership will lie to you and say that they do not know, but if you ask the DSA crew leads and specialists what they are experiencing in the field, they will tell you the demand for FEMA to give you those incident reports,” Washington continued.
Washignton’s instruction prevented at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags from being considered for receiving post-hurricane aid between late October and November, the Daily Wire first reported. The avoidance of Trump supporters’ homes was on a list of “best practices” from the supervisor, along with safety tips to avoid dehydration and other health hazards.
The former FEMA supervisor alleged that her team consistently witnessed hostility and “verbal abuse” from residents who had Trump signage on their property, leading to the instruction to avoid Trump supporters altogether. Washington claimed her staff did not canvass at homes with Trump signs to avoid facing the alleged “verbal abuse” and “hostile encounters” at the behest of Chad Hershey, the FEMA supervisor above Washington, who allegedly instructed them to avoid homes they felt were unsafe.
“We will canvass at [homes] that do not have the community trend with the Trump campaign signage and let it go. If any of those residents come outside that have the Trump campaign signage and say ‘hey, I want to register,’ we’ll welcome them into our arms, we will let you register, great, wonderful. But we were not going to subject our people to continue with verbal abuse or hostile encounters,” Washington said.
Washington confirmed that FEMA teams also faced hostility from those with Harris-Walz signs or no campaign signage on their property, though she did not experience it on this particular trip.
Workers allegedly logged the homes they skipped over with messages like, “Trump sign no entry per leadership,” “Trump sign,” “Per leadership no stop Trump flag” and “Trump sign, no contact per leadership,” according to screenshots obtained by the Daily Wire. Washington allegedly gave the guidance to workers in Florida’s Highlands County, where nearly 70% of residents voted for Trump.
Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated the area in October, leaving millions without power and causing about $50 billion in economic losses, President Joe Biden said in an Oct. 11 statement.
Hershey told the Wire that the agency was “aware” of the incident and was taking immediate action.
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