Fema official told relief workers to skip Trump supporters’ houses in wake of hurricane

Supervisor suspended and Ron DeSantis launches investigation into ‘blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists’

A Federal Emergency Management Agency official has been suspended after ordering disaster relief workers to skip the homes of Donald Trump supporters.
The Fema supervisor told staff to “avoid homes advertising Trump” in a “best practices” memo as the agency carried out relief efforts in Lake Pacific, Florida, following the devastation of Hurricane Milton.
The storm made landfall on Oct 10, causing an estimated $34 billion in damage and claiming the lives of at least 14 people.
As a result of the instruction, at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were ignored between the end of October and early November, meaning residents were not given the chance to qualify for the agency’s multi-billion-dollar aid scheme, government employees told The Daily Wire.
Images shared with the outlet showed that after skipping homes with Trump paraphernalia outside, workers entered messages into Fema’s tracking system such as: “Trump sign no entry per leadership.”
Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, said he has directed state officials to investigate the incident.
“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,” Mr DeSantis wrote on X.
“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.”
A Fema spokesman said officials at the agency were “horrified” the incident had taken place and have taken “extreme action” to correct the situation.
The agency is currently investigating how many houses were overlooked by its disaster relief teams, a spokesman told CNN.
It has also deployed a new team to the area to make contact with those who may have been missed out.
“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 spokesman said.
“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.”
It is understood that the member of staff responsible for the policy has been suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
A Fema spokesman said that the agency “helps all survivors regardless of their political preference or affiliation”.
The revelations will increase pressure on the beleaguered agency, which came under heavy criticism for its sluggish disaster response in the wake of Hurricanes Milton and Helene, which struck Florida within a fortnight of each other.
Leading Republicans including Mr Trump claimed that “billions” of dollars in relief funds for Hurricane victims was diverted to house illegal migrants.
Jaclyn Rothenberg, Fema’s public affairs director, responded that the claims about funding were “false”, adding that the agency was working to “bring in life-saving resources to the people and communities who need it most”.
The Telegraph revealed last month that the agency had budged 20-times more cash for its response to coronavirus aid in September than it spent on Hurricane relief aid.
Fema was approached for comment.