Federal disaster crew illegally skipped homes with Trump signs eroding ‘public trust’
- A federal watchdog report revealed that a FEMA crew illegally skipped 11 Florida homes displaying Donald Trump campaign signs following Hurricane Milton in 2024.
- The Homeland Security Inspector General concluded that the directive violated the Hatch Act and severely eroded public trust in FEMA’s impartiality.
- FEMA terminated crew leader Marn’i Washington and other involved staffers, leading to a formal Hatch Act complaint filed against Washington in February 2025.
- Washington claimed she was executing orders to avoid hostile encounters, though agency leadership maintained the violation was an isolated incident.
- The watchdog noted FEMA lacked sufficient ethics training and standardized record-keeping, while further investigation was hindered by a lapsed software contract in 2025.
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