FEMA worker Marni Washington breaks silence on not helping Trump-voting hurricane victims

The FEMA boss who was fired after ordering volunteers not to approach homes with Trump signs after Hurricane Milton insisted her edict “was not isolated.”

Marn’i Washington accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency of “lying” about the scandal after officials fired her and said they were shocked by her actions.

She insists she became a scapegoat because FEMA officials wanted her to [President-elect] Donald Trump knows they “fear retaliation.”

Washington and a team of volunteers were in Lake Placid, Florida, in the aftermath of back-to-back Hurricanes Helene and Milton – which together killed at least 254 people – to provide government assistance to the victims.

But a leaked message shows she instructed her team to “avoid homes that promote Trump” as they went door to door to help victims.

Washington told DailyMail.com that she is seeking a lawyer and is “in danger” as a result of the backlash she has received. “I have information that proves FEMA is lying,” she said.

FEMA has tried to distance itself from Washington after receiving widespread backlash, revealing she lost her job after her superiors learned of the message.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said, “This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values ​​and principles of helping people regardless of their political beliefs.

“This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel.”

But Washington told it Roland Martin unfiltered that she was directly following FEMA protocol when she issued the controversial directive.

“FEMA preaches avoidance first, then de-escalation. This is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance. Not just in the state of Florida. In the Carolinas you will find evasion,” she revealed.

Washington had experienced hostility on specific streets in Florida during the cleanup efforts, and that the “running trend” was for homes to feature Trump signage.

“If you look at the facts, there is what you call a community trend… the political hostility that my team faced, they just happened to have Trump campaign signs.”

“For example, if we notice Mary Street and we are greeted with unwelcome arms or people come out with firearms shouting at us, then that is a street we should avoid altogether.”

Washington said she didn’t even vote in this election because she was so busy cleaning up the effort and would never have let politics interfere with her work.

Instead, she said the directive was a matter of keeping her team safe.

“Not all Floridians have been disagreeable, but for the most part, those who are very passionate about their disdain for FEMA … have no problem expressing it,” she said.

During the tragedy, Trump was highly critical of FEMA and the administration’s response, claiming, “We’re giving foreign countries hundreds of billions of dollars and we’re handing North Carolina $750.”

Before calling a halt to hurricane-ravaged North Carolina, Trump said, “I don’t like the reports I’m getting about the federal government and the state’s Democratic governor going out of their way to put people in the Republican government not to help. areas.’

Washington had also ordered its crews to “practice de-escalation and preventive measures” and “not go anywhere alone.”

Her edict urged workers to avoid at least 20 homes with signage expressing their support for the president-elect, leaving residents to fend for themselves without any federal assistance, whistleblowers alleged.

She warned volunteers to “follow the rules” and “take regular breaks and drink water.”

Washington had worked as a reservist with FEMA since 2019, responding to calls “on United Nations land” after natural disasters.

During her years in this role, Washington and her team have also been treated with hostility by Biden/Harris supporters and have adopted the same “stand down and withdraw” approach.

She also worked a full-time regular job in property management in California, but was fired as a result of the backlash she received.

According to the Daily threadthe employees who followed Washington’s orders were part of a Department of Homeland Security team made up of volunteers from other agencies.

One of the workers said: ‘I thought we could help and make a difference. When we got there, we were told that we had to discriminate against people.

“It’s almost unbelievable to think that anyone in the federal government would think that’s OK.”

The person added that it was wrong to discriminate against Trump supporters when they were “the most vulnerable.”

They added: “I volunteered to help disaster victims and not discriminate against them. It didn’t matter if people were black, white, Hispanic, pro-Trump or pro-Harris. Everyone deserves equal help.’

Images also obtained by the outlet of the system used to document which homes were visited show notes left behind that read: “Trump sign, no contact per leadership.”

But the Trump-related comments were reportedly deleted from the group chat a few days after they were posted.

Criswell said in the wake of the controversy, “I will continue to do everything I can to ensure this never happens again.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has ordered a state investigation into Washington’s edict.

“The blatant weaponization of the administration 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 Department of Emergency Management is launching an investigation into the federal government’s targeted discrimination against Florida residents who support Donald Trump.

“New leadership is emerging in DC, and I am optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired.”

Trump resoundingly won Florida’s thirty electoral votes, with the Associated Press calling the race just an hour after the polls closed.