FEMA worker was fired in Florida after Hurricane Milton after he ordered relief teams to leave homes with Trump signs

MIAMI, Florida – A Federal Emergency Management Agency employee was fired after she advised her disaster relief team to avoid homes with signs supporting former President Donald Trump while they were campaigning in the wake of Hurricane Milton in Florida, the agency's administrator said Saturday .

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell called the employee's actions “reprehensible” and said he had been fired from his job.

“More than 22,000 FEMA employees adhere to FEMA’s core values ​​every day and are committed to helping people before, during and after disasters, often sacrificing time with their own families to help disaster survivors,” wrote Criswell in a post on X before describing the employees' actions. “This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values & principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.”

“That was reprehensible. “I want to make it clear to all of my employees and the American people that this type of behavior and actions will not be tolerated at FEMA and we will hold people accountable when they violate these standards of conduct,” she added.

CNN reported Friday that the employee had been removed from his position and the incident was under investigation. The authority did not name the employee and assumed that it was an “isolated case”.

“The employee who issued this guidance had no authority or direction to instruct teams to avoid these homes,” a FEMA spokesman said Friday.

The Daily Wire first reported the incident, citing internal correspondence between the employee and workers touring homes in Lake Placid, Florida, in which the employee instructed them to “avoid homes that promote Trump.” .

The agency is investigating how many homes the canvassing team crossed as part of the Oct. 27 incident, the spokesperson told CNN. The agency deployed a new team Friday to knock on doors in the affected area and contact those who may not have been reached before.

The spokesman declined to provide further information about the incident or elaborate on how agency officials were informed of it, citing the investigation. However, he said in the statement that FEMA officials “are appalled that this has happened and have therefore taken extreme measures to correct this situation. They have ensured that the issue was addressed at all levels.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday after reports of the incident that he had directed state officials to investigate the matter.

“The blatant weaponization of the government by partisan operatives in the federal bureaucracy is another reason the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days,” DeSantis, a Republican, wrote on X. “At my direction, the Department of Emergency Management responsible.” Opening an investigation into the federal government’s targeted discrimination against Floridians who support Donald Trump.

FEMA, the spokesperson said in its statement, “assists all survivors, regardless of their political preference or affiliation.”

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

CNN's Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.

The CNN Wire™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery company. All rights reserved.