Marn'i Washington, a former FEMA official who was fired after telling workers to avoid homes with Trump signs in Florida post-Hurricane Milton, insists she's being scapegoated, and claims similar practices were happening within the agency beyond her case.
Washington, who directed volunteers to "avoid" Trump-supporting homes, told Daily Mail that FEMA is "lying" and placing the blame solely on her, despite her claims that this "was not isolated" and had also occurred in North Carolina.
Washington defended her actions as a safety measure during an appearance on Roland Martin's YouTube podcast. "If we are noticing on, for example, Mary Street, we're greeted with unwelcoming arms or people are coming out with guns blazing, screaming at us, then that's a street we need to avoid altogether."
"If you look at the record, there is what you call a community trend," Washington explained. "The political hostility that was encountered by my team, they just so happened to have the Trump campaign signage."
Washington emphasized that her directive was intended to protect FEMA workers, citing past experiences of hostility from both Biden and Trump supporters in past assignments, calling for a protocol of "disengaging and withdrawing."
"'FEMA preaches avoidance first, and then de-escalation," she said. "This is not isolated."
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell condemned Washington's actions as a violation of the agency's mission "to help people regardless of their political affiliation," stating that FEMA had referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel.
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a state investigation, calling it a "blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists."
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