Homeland Security Inspector General Confirms Audit of FEMA Regarding Trump Sign Controversy

January 8, 2025 TruthUSA

The agency is currently undergoing an audit amid controversy following Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

This week, the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that it is conducting an audit of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This investigation follows concerns that some employees intentionally avoided residences displaying support for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in the wake of various hurricanes.

In a letter dated January 6, the office informed Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.) that an audit of FEMA was launched on December 17, 2024, aimed at “evaluating how effectively FEMA adhered to its policies and procedures regarding safety concerns and community trends that affect disaster survivor assistance in the context of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.”

Two months prior, Marn’i Washington, a FEMA employee who has since been terminated, reportedly instructed a FEMA team in Florida to bypass homes featuring Trump signs. After these allegations emerged, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell announced Washington’s dismissal.

“I wish to make it clear to all my employees and to the American public that such behavior is unacceptable at FEMA; we will ensure accountability for any violations of our conduct standards,” Criswell stated at the time.

However, Washington later claimed in several media interviews that the issue was systemic and that she was being made a scapegoat. She asserted that FEMA officials “were already avoiding these residences based on community trends related to hostile political encounters,” explaining that the actions were not linked to the campaign sign, but merely emerged from the wider community context.

“To begin with, I’m being framed,” she told NewsNation in mid-November 2024. “There’s no violation of the Hatch Act. I was simply following orders.”

On December 3, 2024, Graves and Perry, members of the House Transportation Committee, requested an investigation into the claims made by Washington and other reports of “the intentional avoidance of homes featuring Trump campaign or political signs” during FEMA’s operations following the two hurricanes.

“The directives given by FEMA supervisors to avoid residences displaying Trump campaign signs or flags are alarming and raise significant concerns about the culture and political bias that exists within FEMA leadership,” they wrote, expressing additional concern whether the practice might be “more widespread than reported” and could have negatively affected hurricane victims.

In November 2024, Criswell testified before Congress and stated that denying assistance based on political beliefs contradicts FEMA’s mission, emphasizing that the incident was not indicative of a larger trend within the agency.

FEMA encountered criticism late last year after Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Criswell indicated that the relief agency’s funding was insufficient to last through the remainder of the 2024 hurricane season.

Mayorkas’s announcement outraged some Republicans. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and others pointed to FEMA’s previous announcements from last year, which allocated over $1 billion to cover costs for illegal immigrants migrating to U.S. cities, asserting that these funds should instead assist communities impacted by hurricanes.

Hurricane Helene struck the southeastern United States in late September 2024, resulting in significant destruction, particularly in western North Carolina’s Appalachian region. A few weeks later, Hurricane Milton impacted Florida’s western coast, causing devastation across the Tampa area.

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