FEMA employee fired for urging team to not help homes with signs backing Trump

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency - whose mission is to help people before, during and after disasters - fired an employee who advised her survivor assistance team in Florida to not go to homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump, the agency's administrator said.

"This is a clear violation of FEMA's core values & principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation," FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said on social media platform X.

"This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel," Criswell added over the weekend.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said his state's division of emergency management will launch an investigation into the issue.

The comments from the FEMA administrator and DeSantis did not mention the exact time frame or location of the incident.

FEMA workers have helped Florida residents recover from last month's devastating Hurricane Milton. The agency, already short of money, was also recently hit by a disinformation campaign.

FEMA has a workforce of over 22,000 people that can swell to more than 50,000 active members during major disasters. It has 10 regional offices and the capacity to coordinate resources from across the federal government.

"This was reprehensible. I want to be clear to all of my employees and the American people, this type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct," Criswell added in her comments about the terminated employee.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Jonathan Oatis)