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Florida’s attorney general sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week after a former supervisor with the agency instructed FEMA workers to avoid homes with Donald Trump campaign signs during recent hurricane relief efforts.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by state Attorney General Ashley Moody, names FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell and former FEMA supervisor Marn’i Washington as defendants.
“While the facts will continue to come out over the weeks and months, it is already clear that Defendant Washington conspired with senior FEMA officials, as well as those carrying out her orders, to violate the civil rights of Florida citizens,” Moody alleged in the complaint.
The Daily Wire first reported last week that a FEMA employee had directed relief workers to pass over houses with yard signs supporting Trump. The next day, Criswell announced that the employee had been fired for doing so, calling it “a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.”
The employee, Washington, later told The Washington Examiner that she was merely following protocol in directing FEMA workers to avoid potentially hostile political encounters, which happened to have taken place at houses with Trump signs in the past.
“The running trend of those encounters just so happened to [be at houses that] have Trump campaign signage,” she told the Examiner. “The notation that was leaked had nothing to do with their political stance. It was with the objective of safety.”
Washington also said that the agency made her a “scapegoat.”
Conspiracy theories about FEMA’s relief efforts were rife in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which made landfall in Florida in September and October, respectively. Trump and his allies boosted those claims, including the false allegation that FEMA diverted disaster relief funds to house migrants in the U.S. illegally. Trump also claimed the federal government was “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.” Some relief efforts were disrupted as a result, and FEMA workers reported facing threats. Local officials also pleaded with the public to stop spreading those claims.
That FEMA workers were told to avoid potentially hostile interactions is not unusual. But the scandal around FEMA supposedly depriving people of aid due to their political affiliation has engulfed Criswell. She is set to testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee about the matter next week.
FEMA has declined to comment publicly on pending litigation.