FEMA aid withholding – policy?

Does the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have a policy of selectively offering or withholding aid in a disaster area? And does that selectivity depend on the political holdings of people in such an area? That allegation has now developed, as surely as an organized criminal syndicate often unravels when authorities punish the first person who possesses the critical piece of incriminating knowledge. Now that Republicans have secured the House of Representatives, an investigation will happen. Even before then, developments have already proved the maxim that there is no honor between or among thieves.

The first disaster reports

Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 hurricane, made landfall in the eastern part of the Florida Panhandle. Her track seemed to cut the Panhandle off from the Peninsula, then moved through eastern Georgia, over the western tip of North Carolina, then across East Tennessee, and finally into Kentucky. There the storm track curved back on itself, and Helene finished as a “tropical low” over Louisville. (Source: WXIA-TV, Channel 11, Atlanta, Georgia.)

More than 200 people died of the usual immediate violent events – drowning, falling objects, etc. 1000 more turned up missing. The storm knocked out electricity, natural gas, and water to millions of people. It tore up roads and washed out bridges, thus cutting many people off from food or shelter. Western North Carolina, including Asheville, suffered the worst. In some cases the storm destroyed historical structures. Nor did the toll confine itself to the track; Southwest Virginia also felt the effects.

Incidentally, several electric cars in Florida exploded after saltwater flooded them. Great American Electric Vehicle Road Test Failure, Round Two.

From the first, FEMA and Gov. Roy Cooper (D-N.C.) failed their missions. But at least two volunteer organizations – Samaritan’s Purse and The Cajun Navy – laid on a full disaster response. Not only that, but President Trump himself appeared and started delivering relief supplies. Trump and Elon Musk started an initiative to bring Starlink Internet service to the area. The federal government tried to claim credit for that, credit they didn’t deserve.

Election interference – which a former Obama adviser admitted

Then David Axelrod, a former Obama White House official, taunted conservatives with the suggestion that Western North Carolina residents might not be able to vote!

[Affected Democrats in Asheville, North Carolina are] upscale liberal voters, and they’re probably going to figure out a way to vote. I’m not sure a bunch of these folks who had their homes and lives destroyed elsewhere, in western North Carolina, in the mountains, there are going to be as easy to wrangle for the Trump campaign. David Axelrod

As it happened, everyone in western North Carolina proved they would crawl over broken glass to vote! Happily, North Carolina’s legislature cleared some emergency election rules to allow Boards of Elections in the disaster zone to help each other handle one another’s voters. But soon a worse allegation emerged: that FEMA had spent all its money helping illegal aliens and had none for the rest of the hurricane season! Not only that, but more reports emerged alleging that FEMA was not helping and was stopping others from helping. Apparently they seized some shipments from private relief agencies so they could pretend to be bringing them in themselves. In one memorable episode, Elon Musk shamed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg into clearing some flights to deliver Starlink equipment.

Meanwhile, Vice-President Kamala Harris told disaster victims to apply to FEMA for “serious needs assistance,” amounting to a munificent $750. Worse, that’s a loan – using one’s house as collateral.

Other reports came out, none flattering. FEMA turns out to have a “slush fund” of unspent money from previous disasters. But then, CNAV heard directly from a witness from the disaster area. That witness credited Elon Musk, Samaritan’s Purse, Mercury One, Hearts with Hands, Chabad Charlotte, and the Red Cross. But she did not credit FEMA at all.

FEMA is getting really bad reviews here. Terrible. So far all I’ve heard that they’ve done is ordering volunteer pilots, search and medical teams out of the state on threat of arrest and seizure of licenses. FEDGOV wants to be the only hero. None of these volunteer teams are operating like Lone Rangers—they all coordinate through local authorities.

Private agencies took over, while FEMA interfered

The private agencies that witness mentioned, along with the Cajun Navy, did indeed take over. But the government response was incompetent, or worse. In one case, a National Guard helicopter damaged some relief goods with a “wash” from its main rotor.

As Hurricane Milton approached Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) expressed a willingness to talk to President Biden – but not Vice-President Harris. More to the point, in his Executive Order ahead of Milton, DeSantis withheld from his temporary emergency surrogate any authority to ban or limit the sale, transport, or other “disposition” of firearms.

From the RealClear Foundation came other reports of less-than-exemplary performance by the government. This included a delayed response to Hurricane Helene by military forces tasked with disaster relief. A North Carolina political consultant pointed out that Hurricane Helene did indeed destroy “election infrastructure.” Happily the people in the disaster area figured out how to vote – and Trump carried North Carolina. Not even Lawyer Marc Elias is contesting that.

While one RealClear correspondent tried to whitewash FEMA involvement, a guest correspondent in North Carolina soundly disputed that. She also described how western North Carolinians did indeed crawl over broken glass to vote.

The FEMA selective aid directives

Which brings us to the story that Leif Le Mahieu of The Daily Wire uncovered last Friday. FEMA Supervisor Marn’i Washington issued a set of “best practices” to personnel responding to Lake Placid, Florida, after Hurricane Milton. Among these “best practices,” along with taking frequent water breaks and not eating too much salt, was this gem:

Avoid homes advertising Trump.

EXCLUSIVE: Internal messages obtained by The Daily Wire show a FEMA official ordered relief workers in Florida not to help houses with Trump signs pic.twitter.com/o73ejUuYUG— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) November 8, 2024

Toward the end of October, and into November before the election, FEMA operatives, following this “best practice,” skipped 20 homes. Of course, a worker must log the reason for skipping over a property. Many wrote “property inaccessible” – though it was. But some – either brazenly or in protest – wrote things like:

Trump sign. No entry per leadership.

Several employees, reporting anonymously, shared hard evidence with Mr. Le Mahieu. This included photographs of the “best practices” list on a Microsoft Teams message, and some of those log entries. Said one:

I know they’re short-staffed, 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. It didn’t matter if people were black, white, Hispanic, for Trump, for Harris. Everyone deserves the same amount of help.

Chad Hershey, Marn’i Washington’s immediate boss, took note. Then when the story broke, a FEMA spokesperson released this statement:

While we believe this is an isolated incident, we have taken measures to remove the employee from their role and are investigating the matter to prevent this from happening ever again. The employee who issued this guidance had no authority and was given no direction to tell teams to avoid these homes and we are reaching out to the people who may have not been reached as a result of this incident.

This is a matter that we take extremely seriously and we are doing everything we can to make sure all survivors receive support from FEMA. To date, we have helped over 365,000 households impacted by both Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the state of Florida and have provided over $898 million in direct assistance to survivors.

We are horrified that this took place and therefore have taken extreme actions to correct this situation and have ensured that the matter was addressed at all levels. Helping people is what we do best and our workforce across the agency will continue to serve survivors for as long as it takes.

Ms. Washington went on administrative leave. But Gov. DeSantis was outraged.

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. 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. New leadership is on the way in DC, and I’m optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.)

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.

At my direction, the Division of Emergency Management is launching an investigation into the federal… https://t.co/3uFpE62vxb— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) November 8, 2024

So were several Members of the House and Senate.

FEMA did fire Marn’i Washington, and its chief administrator, Deanne Criswell, released this statement:

More than 22,000 FEMA employees every day adhere to FEMA’s core values and are dedicated to helping people before, during and after disasters, often sacrificing time with their own families to help disaster survivors. Recently, one FEMA employee departed from these values to advise her survivor assistance team to not go to homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Trump. This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. 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.

We take our mission to help everyone before, during and after disasters seriously. This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel. I will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again. Deanna Criswell, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency

In other words, Administrator Criswell threw her employee under the bus. She should have known that wouldn’t satisfy. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) demanded more answers from Criswell and her boss, SecHomeSec Alejandro Mayorkas.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent his own letter to the HomeSec Inspector General.

FEMA officials discriminated against Trump voters? Totally illegal. I’m asking the Inspector General to launch a full investigation immediately. Everyone involved needs to be identified, fired – and if necessary, prosecuted.

FEMA officials discriminated against Trump voters? Totally illegal. I’m asking the Inspector General to launch a full investigation immediately. Everyone involved needs to be identified, fired – and if necessary, prosecuted pic.twitter.com/GGoJUcgneb— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 9, 2024

Further investigations – and a rat-out

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, promised an investigation of his own. Hearings will begin on November 19. Furthermore, Gov. Bill Lee (R-Tenn.) promised yet another investigation, asking whether FEMA pulled that stunt in his State. Lake Placid, Florida residents now know about the “best practices,” and naturally they are reacting in outrage. At least one homeowner received a FEMA crew who sheepishly admitted to trying to “make things right” after a skip-over.

And this morning came the Big Rat-out. Marn’i Washington, in an interview with YouTube channel operator Roland S. Martin, said this happens all the time. It is part of de-escalation, she said.

FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation, 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. Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know. Marn’i Washington

BREAKING: Fired FEMA employee does first interview with @rolandsmartin, says her team's avoidance of homes in Florida was not an "isolated" incident

"This is a colossal event of avoidance not just in the state of Florida." pic.twitter.com/aCrTr6V771— Leif Le Mahieu (@leif_lemahieu) November 12, 2024

In other words, someone, at the highest echelons of FEMA, has determined that Trump supporters are psychopaths – the sort of people who would kill a FEMA crewmember as casually as another person would buy a quart of milk. Or so that person, or persons, would have people believe. Only that could rationally explain a policy of a priori avoidance of people flying the flags of any Presidential candidate.

In fact, this supervisor told Martin that she acted after residents flying Trump flags showed hostility to her crews. She even said she sent a message to her own boss, saying, “We are not canvassing this street further.” That boss, writing back, said, “Great decision. Thanks for the update.”

If that boss was Supervisor Chad Hershey, then Messrs. Martin and Mahieu have just caught him out in a lie.

Summary

Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) (pronounced STOO-Bee), yesterday, told Fox News that he suspected that Marn’i Washington’s acts were not isolated, but commonplace. (Source: Jim Hoft, The Gateway Pundit.)

The FEMA administration wants to say this was an isolated incident, but there is alleged text messages from Washington, DC to the supervisor advising them and directing them to do this. So somebody higher up within FEMA was advising the people on the ground to do this. So if it was happening in Lake Placid, I can guarantee you it was happening in other places all across the great state of Florida and the country. Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.)

Where he got his information, is not clear. But it is entirely consistent with Marn’i Washington’s rat-out of her bosses this morning. Of course she would have motive to implicate her bosses, truthfully or falsely. But Rep. Steube would not have a motive to lie. For FEMA to have anyone in its employ, who so took matters into her own hands, would be shame enough on the agency. Obviously the agency knew perfectly well that they are not dealing with psychopathic “political hostiles.” Else Supervisor Hershey would not have said what he said, and neither would Administrator Criswell.

But a widespread program to deny aid to Trump supporters is consistent with every report CNAV has read or received. CNAV has a witness to the untoward attitude of FEMA, including trying to be the only heroes. And though SecTrans Buttigieg did curtail apparent interference (by the FAA), SecHomeSec Mayorkas did not.

Fortunately, not only did Trump win, but Republicans also captured the Senate and retained control of the House of Representatives. Furthermore, Elon Musk himself is in line to become Trump’s Efficiency Czar. Therefore we can be sure that a thorough investigation will take place – as it should.