Marn'i Washington, the FEMA boss who was let go after it was revealed that she ordered her crews to bypass homes with Trump signs in hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods in Florida, now says that FEMA was lying when they claimed her actions were an "isolated incident."
"FEMA preaches avoidance first, and then de-escalation. This is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance," Washington said in an interview with YouTube podcaster Roland Martin.
"Not just in the state of Florida. You will find avoidance in the Carolinas," she revealed.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in a statement published November 10, "This is a clear violation of FEMA's core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation."
"This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel," Criswell added.
"Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know,” Washington said.
In fact, employees were told to avoid some streets due to hostility by victims of the storms.
"If you look at the record there is what you call a community trend... the political hostility that was encountered by my team, they just so happened to have the Trump campaign signage, Washington said. "If we are noticing on, for example, Mary Street, and we're greeted with unwelcomed arms or people are coming out with guns blazing screaming at us, then that's a street we need to avoid altogether."
"Guns blazing"? Oh, c'mon.
How would you feel if your house is in ruins, you've got nothing to eat and no clean water and this FEMA team shows up with an attitude about Trump signage? I'd do some screaming, too.
Washington had also instructed her crews to 'practice de-escalation and preventative measures' and to 'not go anywhere alone.'
Her edict prompted workers to avoid at least 20 homes with signage, indicating their support for the President-elect, leaving residents to fend for themselves without any federal aid, whistleblowers alleged.
She warned volunteers to 'follow the rules' and to take 'frequent breaks and drink water.'
Washington was employed as a reservist with FEMA since 2019 and responded to deployment call outs 'on United Nations lands' after natural disasters.
Not all Trump supporters were unpleasant or threatening. That's why the directive to avoid all homes with Trump signs is so despicable. It's bad enough to refuse to help desperate people. But to do it based purely on politics should get everyone fired.
One of the workers said, "I thought we could go help and make a difference. 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."
“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.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis promised a thorough investigation.
"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," the governor said.
"At my direction, the Division of Emergency Management is launching an investigation into the federal government’s targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump."
I hope the investigation discovers the origin of this order, how high up in FEMA it goes, or whether the order originated elsewhere. No doubt, any documentary evidence has already been destroyed. But someone knows. And DeSantis should urge the investigators to turn over every rock to uncover the identity of the culprit.
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