In a scandal first uncovered by The Daily Wire, a new Department of Homeland Security <a class="decorated-link" href="https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2026-08/OIG-26-21-Aug26.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_new" rel="noopener" data-start="90" data-end="196">inspector general report</a> found that a FEMA disaster response crew illegally skipped Florida homes displaying signs supporting President Donald Trump, as workers surveyed damage from Hurricane Milton without proper training.
In November 2024, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs">The Daily Wire first exposed</a> the FEMA scandal after multiple federal employees confirmed that a supervisor ordered disaster relief workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida, to identify residents eligible for federal aid. Internal messages obtained by The Daily Wire showed that supervisor Marn’i Washington issued the directive both verbally and in a group chat used by the relief team, according to multiple government employees.
“This situation eroded public trust in FEMA’s ability to treat everyone impartially, offer unbiased and consistent assistance, and ensure equal access to resources and tools,” the inspector general’s report <a href="https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2026-08/OIG-26-21-Aug26.pdf">said</a>. 
The 25-page investigation concluded that the discrimination violated both FEMA policy and the Hatch Act. The <a href="https://www.osc.gov/services/hatch-act/overview/">1939 federal law</a> prohibits government employees from using their positions or government resources for partisan political activity.
FEMA disaster relief crews canvassed more than 744,000 homes and other locations after Hurricanes Helene and Milton. But a DHS watchdog found that workers deliberately skipped 11 homes displaying signs supporting then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Images obtained by The Daily Wire showed workers documenting the homes in the government system with messages such as “Trump sign no entry per leadership.”
<div id="attachment_1165733" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1165733" class="wp-image-1165733 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/fema-avoid-trump-1-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/fema-avoid-trump-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/fema-avoid-trump-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/fema-avoid-trump-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/fema-avoid-trump-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/fema-avoid-trump-1.avif 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Microsoft Teams chat used by FEMA workers.</div>
“These issues occurred due to weaknesses in FEMA’s training, documentation, and oversight,” the inspector general&#8217;s report concluded. “FEMA DSA [Disaster Survivor Assistance] crews did not receive ethics and Hatch Act training before deploying to disasters, DSA policies and procedures did not require crews to explain why they skipped homes, and DSA crew leaders were not required to conduct quality control reviews of survivor interactions.” 
Investigators also interviewed 18 random FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance crew members deployed during the natural disasters and found 11 who said they never received Hatch Act training.
Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm on September 26, 2024, unleashing catastrophic flooding and devastation that killed hundreds and caused billions of dollars in damage from the Gulf Coast to the mountains of North Carolina. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Milton struck near Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3 storm, battering communities still reeling from Helene. 
President Biden quickly approved major disaster declarations for Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee, unlocking federal aid to help survivors clean up and begin rebuilding.
As FEMA scrambled to respond to the back-to-back disasters, the agency called on a DHS Surge Capacity Force, drawing volunteers from other DHS agencies to bolster its understaffed workforce ahead of Hurricane Milton.
“I know they’re short-staffed, I thought we could go help and make a difference,” one of the employees told The Daily Wire at the time. “When we got there we were told to discriminate against people. It’s almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that’s okay.” 
The employee said it felt wrong to discriminate against Trump supporters when they were at their “most vulnerable.” 
“I volunteered to help disaster victims, not discriminate against them,” the employee said. “It didn’t matter if people were black, white, Hispanic, for Trump, for Harris. Everyone deserves the same amount of help.”
The guidance came as the Biden administration faced mounting criticism over what many rural communities described as a lackluster response to Hurricane Helene. In Roan Mountain, Tennessee, for example, residents <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-a-small-tennessee-town-survived-helene-after-the-emergency-response-floundered">told</a> The Daily Wire that it took nearly two weeks for FEMA to arrive. Carter County, where the town is located, <a href="https://www.politico.com/2024-election/results/tennessee/">voted 81%</a> for Trump.
The FEMA workers ordered to bypass homes displaying Trump signs were operating in Highlands County, a deep-red region of south-central Florida that backed Trump with 70% of the vote. The county was battered by tornadoes, torrential winds and rain, and flooding when Hurricane Milton struck in October.
The inspector general’s report laid out the limited exceptions in which FEMA workers could skip homes, including &#8220;hostile&#8221; interactions with residents, no-trespassing or private-property signs, hazardous debris, or purple paint marking a property as off-limits.
Political signs supporting Trump were not among the exceptions.
The inspector general reviewed thousands of FEMA canvassing records and identified 11 cases with notes indicating potential political bias. The workers logged the skipped homes under generic categories such as “Not Able to Access Property” and “Private Property.” 
“However, in the notes field all 11 surveys included the name of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump to explain the reason for skipping the homes,” the investigation found. 
<div id="attachment_1165737" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1165737" class="wp-image-1165737 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/MixCollage-08-Nov-2024-03-17-PM-8891-2048x1024-1-1024x512.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="512" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/MixCollage-08-Nov-2024-03-17-PM-8891-2048x1024-1-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/MixCollage-08-Nov-2024-03-17-PM-8891-2048x1024-1-300x150.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/MixCollage-08-Nov-2024-03-17-PM-8891-2048x1024-1-768x384.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/MixCollage-08-Nov-2024-03-17-PM-8891-2048x1024-1-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/MixCollage-08-Nov-2024-03-17-PM-8891-2048x1024-1.avif 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />One of the homes skipped by FEMA/ FEMA app tracking what homes were visited.</div>
The report could not determine whether FEMA workers used similar discriminatory tactics elsewhere in the country as communities reeled from hurricane devastation.
“We could not determine if crews skipped locations for unallowable reasons during other disasters because the support contract for FEMA’s Field Assessment and Collection Tools ended in September 2025 when then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Noem did not act on FEMA’s request to fund it before expiration,” investigators said.  
Looking forward, the inspector general issued four recommendations: strengthen ethics and Hatch Act training before deployments, create a system to document survivor interactions, and require FEMA crews to standardize how they record skipped homes and the reasons for doing so. 
After The Daily Wire broke the story, a FEMA spokesman said the agency was “deeply disturbed” and “horrified” by the employee’s actions, and that it has “taken extreme actions to correct this situation.”

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Daily Wire Bombshell Leads To Report Finding FEMA Illegally Skipped Trump Supporters’ Homes

Biden Administration

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Inspector general

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natural disasters

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Politics

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<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/fema-official-gregg-phillips-ousted-agency">Gregg Phillips</a>, the third-highest ranking FEMA official, has reportedly been forced from the agency due to wild past claims of teleporting to a Waffle House.
Phillips was the leader of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, appointed in December by the White House. He held one of the most “consequential roles” in the agency. However, Phillips has raised eyebrows in the past with outlandish claims, such as one stating he&#8217;d &#8220;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DWG876sDaX_/">teleported</a>&#8221; to a Waffle House.
The Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday that Phillips was leaving the agency, citing “personal reasons,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/fema-official-gregg-phillips-ousted-agency">according to CNN</a>. However, sources told CNN that Phillips did not leave of his own accord. Instead, they said he&#8217;d been forced out because his image had created a lot of embarrassment and exhausted the new DHS leadership.
Phillips made the claims about teleportation in January of 2025 on a conservative podcast called “Onward,” informing the host that “teleporting is no fun,” according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/climate/gregg-phillips-fema-waffle-house.html">New York Times</a>. There were multiple incidents when Phillips said he physically teleported to a Waffle House 50 miles from his previous location. 
The New York Times investigated the claims, asking roughly two dozen Waffle House employees at three different locations about the alleged incident. None of them remembered anything like that happening.
Phillips later clarified on social media that he had been “heavily medicated” when the episode took place due to his cancer treatment, and argued the experiences mirrored biblical examples of supernatural transportation. In a post on <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@greggphillips/posts/116329963429212640">Truth Social</a>, Phillips said that he&#8217;d turned to alternative routes after conventional cancer treatments failed him, and the incident in question had occurred during the first week of this new treatment. 
“I was in the opening days of intensive treatment, heavily medicated, not thinking about future headlines,” Phillips said. “That context was nowhere in the reporting.”
Phillips also pointed out that he did not use the word “teleportation.” Instead, it was “used by someone else in the conversation reaching for language to describe something with no easy name.”

House Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing On DHS Funding Lapse Impact

FEMA Official Who Once Claimed To Have Teleported To A Waffle House Departs Agency

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL.) resigned from Congress on Tuesday, just hours before the House Ethics Committee was set to issue a recommendation on whether she should be expelled.
The resignation, which takes effect immediately, follows the bipartisan ethics panel finding that Cherfilus-McCormick committed <a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-ethics-cherfilusmccormick-516fe4e2159beda8c8576c736547b53d">25 ethics violations</a>, including breaking campaign finance laws. In November 2025, the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/south-florida-congresswoman-charged-stealing-5-million-fema-funds-and-making-illegal">Department of Justice</a> indicted the congresswoman for allegedly stealing $5 million in federal disaster relief funds to finance her campaign.
&#8220;This was not a fair process,&#8221; Cherfilus-McCormick <a href="https://x.com/CongresswomanSC/status/2046649247408288135?s=20">said in a statement.</a> &#8220;The Ethics committee refused my new attorney&#8217;s reasonable request for time to prepare my defense. By going forward with this process while a criminal indictment is pending, the Committee prevented me from defending myself.&#8221;
&#8220;I will not stand by and pretend this has been anything other than a witch hunt,&#8221; she added.
Last week, a federal judge in Miami postponed Cherfilus-McCormick&#8217;s criminal fraud trial until February 2027, citing a <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/nation-world/florida-congresswoman-sheila-cherfilus-mccormick-5-million-criminal-case-delayed-until-february-2027-wire-fraud-money-laundering-crime-congresswomans-brother-edwin-cherfilus">trove of evidence</a> still under review.
Cherfilus-McCormick is the third House member to resign since April 13. Former representatives Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX) resigned following sex and misconduct scandals.
Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), who was a local representative for 12 years, described a disconnect between Washington elites and everyday Americans.
&#8220;People know where you shop. They know where you eat. They know where your kids go to school. They know where you go to church. And I would just never think to do some of this stuff,&#8221; Duyne said in an interview with The Daily Wire on Tuesday. &#8220;The further away you get, I guess, from your constituents, the more you think you can get away with it.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://t.co/u1lLBxfrI6">pic.twitter.com/u1lLBxfrI6</a>
— Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (@CongresswomanSC) <a href="https://twitter.com/CongresswomanSC/status/2046649247408288135?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2026</a></blockquote>
This is a breaking news story. Stay with The Daily Wire as more details unfold.

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick

Democrat Accused Of Stealing Millions In FEMA Funds Resigns From Congress

Democrat

Theft

LIVE COVERAGE: Cameras Roll As Dem Faces $5M FEMA Scandal, Party Fights To Keep Seat

Congress

Ethics

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Editor’s note: This week, we’re reprinting some of our best stories from the past year. In this piece, originally published in October, Leif Le Mahieu reports on a bombshell report exposing how FEMA denied hurricane aid to Trump supporters — a scandal originally exposed by his reporting. 
 A bombshell report released Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security revealed that FEMA’s targeting of Trump supporters was not an isolated incident, contradicting testimony by former President Joe Biden’s FEMA chief.
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The DHS Privacy Office said that an investigation into FEMA found that the agency has been tracking the political beliefs of conservative disaster survivors since at least September 2021. The probe was launched by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in response to a Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> exposing a FEMA employee for instructing her team to “avoid homes advertising Trump” in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
Those instructions, given by a FEMA employee named Marn’i Washington who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-fema-fires-official-who-told-hurricane-relief-workers-to-skip-trump-homes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was fired</a> after The Daily Wire report, told relief workers canvassing Lake Placid, Florida, to skip the homes of people with Trump yard signs or flags. In response to this report, Deanne Criswell, who led FEMA under Biden, claimed that the incident was isolated and did not reflect the agency’s standard practices.
However, this political weaponization was “not isolated,” the DHS report found, saying that it had “uncovered evidence that this also occurred during other disasters across the nation.”
Since Hurricane Ida in September 2021, FEMA employees have made notes about the political beliefs of disaster survivors like “angry political rant,” “Sign states I’m a bitter gun owner clinging to my religion,” “Homeowner had a sign stating… this is trump country,” and “[P]ro gun sign.”
Other notes left in the FEMA system included statements like “There was a political flyer so I didn’t leave FEMA brochure” and “… a lot of explicit political flags, posters, etc. ‘F*** Joe Biden’ ‘MAGA 2024’ ‘Joe Biden Sucks’ ‘Trump 2024’ We do not recommend anyone visiting this location.”
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“The federal government was withholding aid against Americans in crisis based on their political beliefs — this should horrify every American, regardless of political persuasion,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “For years, FEMA employees under the Biden Administration intentionally delayed much-needed aid to Americans suffering from natural disasters on purely political grounds.”
DHS said that Noem had referred the incident in Lake Placid to the Department of Justice for further investigation and potential prosecution.
The DHS report found that FEMA violated the Privacy Act of 1974 by collecting and storing records tied to protected speech. The investigation “exposed widespread gaps in FEMA’s policies, processes, and procedures, resulting in systemic violations that unfairly targeted individuals across the country,” the report found.
“The DHS Privacy Office examined screenshots of the tool that FEMA canvassers use to collect information from disaster survivors and data extracted from the tool’s database,” the report said.  “The tool’s information indicated that canvassers included information related to political party affiliation, campaign signs, and other information related to freedom of expression.”
Since September 2021, FEMA employees and contractors flagged things like “gun signage” 72 times, “Trump” 15 times, “firearms” five times, “political” three times, and “Biden” and “NRA” twice, respectively.
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Other examples of things logged into FEMA’s tracking system were notes like “angry political rant,” “Sign states I’m a bitter gun owner clinging to my religion,” “Homeowner had a sign stating… this is trump country.”
These findings were all part of the investigation Noem launched into FEMA in response to Washington’s guidance in Florida. The report cites The Daily Wire, noting that it was “the first news outlet to report these allegations.”
The findings appear to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-what-we-learned-from-fema-chiefs-day-of-congressional-grilling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contradict</a> FEMA Administrator Criswell’s November 19 testimony to the House Oversight Committee.
“We are working with the inspector general to determine whether or not this is broader than this, but the evidence that I have seen so far shows that this was an isolated incident, and it has not gone beyond what this one employee did,” she said at the time.
The Florida incident prompted actions from dozens of elected officials and investigations from the state of Tennessee, the state of Florida, the House Homeland Security Committee, the House Oversight Committee, an internal FEMA investigation, America First Legal, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General, and the Office of Special Counsel.
It was also referenced in an executive order from Trump ordering FEMA to be dramatically reformed.
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Best Of 2025: Bombshell DHS Probe Reveals Widespread Political Weaponization At Biden’s FEMA

Donald Trump

A Democratic congresswoman from Florida is facing decades in prison after the Justice Department accused her of stealing more than $5 million in FEMA funds. Prosecutors allege that she diverted the disaster-relief money to support her congressional campaign and enrich her associates.
The Justice Department announced Wednesday that a Miami grand jury had indicted Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick for fraudulently obtaining federal disaster funds, laundering the proceeds, and putting the money toward her 2021 congressional race. According to the Justice Department, Cherfilus-McCormick conspired with her brother, 51-year-old Edwin Cherfilus, to steal a $5 million FEMA overpayment that was sent to their family’s health care company.
“Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice.”
The $5 million payment was made in July 2021 after the siblings had a contract with FEMA for COVID vaccinations. The money was routed through multiple accounts to Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2021 congressional campaign and other personal accounts, according to the Justice Department. 
“This individual and her family allegedly stole money from FEMA and then laundered it through friends toward her own personal benefits &#8211; including her campaign accounts,” FBI Director Kash Patel <a href="https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1991306995366756653">said</a>. “Today the FBI and partners at [the Justice Department] took action. No one is above the law.”
The indictment also accuses 46-year-old Nadege Leblanc, Cherfilus-McCormick’s district chief of staff, of working with the Democrat representative to funnel some of the stolen money to straw donors who then donated back to the campaign.
Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at <a href="http://dailywire.com/blackfriday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dailywire.com/blackfriday</a>. 
An additional defendant is 41-year-old tax preparer David Spencer, who is accused of working with Cherfilus-McCormick to file a false federal tax return. The indictment says that they falsely claimed political spending and personal expenses as business deductions and inflated her charitable contributions. 
Cherfilus-McCormick faces up to 53 years in prison; Edwin Cherfilus faces up to 35 years; Leblanc faces up to 10 years; and Spencer faces up to 33 years, according to the Justice Department. Cherfilus-McCormick&#8217;s legal team <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sheila-cherfilus-mccormick-indicted-stealing-fema-funds-campaign-rcna244889">said</a> she was &#8220;a committed public servant&#8221; and that they would &#8220;fight to clear her good name.”
Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) is expected to file a motion on Thursday to censure Cherfilus-McCormick and remove her from all committees. She currently sits on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Veteran Affairs. 
“This is one of the most egregious abuses of public trust I have ever seen. Stealing $5 million in taxpayer disaster funds from FEMA of all places is beyond indefensible,” he <a href="https://x.com/RepGregSteube/status/1991317294870392922">said</a>. “Millions of Floridians have relied on FEMA after devastating hurricanes, and that money was supposed to help real disaster victims.”
Cherfilus-McCormick is also under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.

Florida Democrat Indicted For Turning FEMA Funds Into Campaign Cash

Crime

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A bombshell report released Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security revealed that FEMA&#8217;s targeting of Trump supporters was not an isolated incident, contradicting testimony by former President Joe Biden’s FEMA chief. 
The DHS Privacy Office said that an investigation into FEMA found that the agency has been tracking the political beliefs of conservative disaster survivors since at least September 2021. The probe was launched by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in response to a Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs">report</a> exposing a FEMA employee for instructing her team to “avoid homes advertising Trump” in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. 
Those instructions, given by a FEMA employee named Marn’i Washington who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-fema-fires-official-who-told-hurricane-relief-workers-to-skip-trump-homes">was fired</a> after The Daily Wire report, told relief workers canvassing Lake Placid, Florida, to skip the homes of people with Trump yard signs or flags. In response to this report, Deanne Criswell, who led FEMA under Biden, claimed that the incident was isolated and did not reflect the agency&#8217;s standard practices. 
However, this political weaponization was &#8220;not isolated,&#8221; the DHS report found, saying that it had “uncovered evidence that this also occurred during other disasters across the nation.”
Since Hurricane Ida in September 2021, FEMA employees have made notes about the political beliefs of disaster survivors like “angry political rant,” “Sign states I’m a bitter gun owner clinging to my religion,” “Homeowner had a sign stating… this is trump country,” and “[P]ro gun sign.” 
Other notes left in the FEMA system included statements like “There was a political flyer so I didn’t leave FEMA brochure” and “&#8230; a lot of explicit political flags, posters, etc. ‘F*** Joe Biden’ ‘MAGA 2024’ ‘Joe Biden Sucks’ ‘Trump 2024’ We do not recommend anyone visiting this location.” 
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-989115" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.38-PM.png" alt="" width="1540" height="1274" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.38-PM.png 1540w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.38-PM-300x248.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.38-PM-696x576.png 696w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.38-PM-768x635.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.38-PM-1536x1271.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1540px) 100vw, 1540px" /></div>
“The federal government was withholding aid against Americans in crisis based on their political beliefs — this should horrify every American, regardless of political persuasion,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “For years, FEMA employees under the Biden Administration intentionally delayed much-needed aid to Americans suffering from natural disasters on purely political grounds.”
DHS said that Noem had referred the incident in Lake Placid to the Department of Justice for further investigation and potential prosecution.
The DHS report found that FEMA violated the Privacy Act of 1974 by collecting and storing records tied to protected speech. The investigation “exposed widespread gaps in FEMA’s policies, processes, and procedures, resulting in systemic violations that unfairly targeted individuals across the country,” the report found. 
“The DHS Privacy Office examined screenshots of the tool that FEMA canvassers use to collect information from disaster survivors and data extracted from the tool’s database,” the report said.  “The tool’s information indicated that canvassers included information related to political party affiliation, campaign signs, and other information related to freedom of expression.”
Since September 2021, FEMA employees and contractors flagged things like “gun signage&#8221; 72 times, &#8220;Trump&#8221; 15 times, &#8220;firearms&#8221; five times, &#8220;political&#8221; three times, and &#8220;Biden&#8221; and &#8220;NRA&#8221; twice, respectively. 
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-989117" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.06-PM.png" alt="" width="1557" height="755" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.06-PM.png 1557w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.06-PM-300x145.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.06-PM-1024x497.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.06-PM-768x372.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-1.14.06-PM-1536x745.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1557px) 100vw, 1557px" /></div>
Other examples of things logged into FEMA’s tracking system were notes like “angry political rant,” “Sign states I’m a bitter gun owner clinging to my religion,” “Homeowner had a sign stating… this is trump country.”
These findings were all part of the investigation Noem launched into FEMA in response to Washington’s guidance in Florida. The report cites The Daily Wire, noting that it was “the first news outlet to report these allegations.”
Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to <a href="http://dailywire.com/Subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire.com/Subscribe</a> to join now.
The findings appear to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-what-we-learned-from-fema-chiefs-day-of-congressional-grilling">contradict</a> FEMA Administrator Criswell&#8217;s November 19 testimony to the House Oversight Committee. 
“We are working with the inspector general to determine whether or not this is broader than this, but the evidence that I have seen so far shows that this was an isolated incident, and it has not gone beyond what this one employee did,” she said at the time. 
The Florida incident prompted actions from dozens of elected officials and investigations from the state of Tennessee, the state of Florida, the House Homeland Security Committee, the House Oversight Committee, an internal FEMA investigation, America First Legal, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General, and the Office of Special Counsel.
It was also referenced in an executive order from Trump ordering FEMA to be dramatically reformed.

House Oversight Committee Hears Testimony From FEMA Administrator Criswell

‘Not Isolated’: Bombshell DHS Probe Reveals Widespread Political Weaponization At Biden’s FEMA

Department of Homeland Security

Joe Biden

FEMA employees who oppose changes being made to the long-troubled agency by the Trump administration are disgruntled bureaucrats who have overseen years of failures, the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Wire on Thursday.
When asked about a <a href="https://www.standupforscience.net/fema-katrina-declaration">recent letter</a> sent to Congress lamenting moves being made at FEMA by the Trump administration and the agency’s history of mismanagement, a spokesman for Homeland Security told The Daily Wire that critics of the changes were motivated by resistance to accountability. 
“The pattern is clear: FEMA has failed to deliver aid, mismanaged contracts and funds, and burdened survivors with a maze of paperwork,” a spokesman said. “So it should surprise no one that the same bureaucrats who let these failures pile up are now the loudest critics of accountability. Those who were comfortable with a broken system are the ones kicking and screaming the hardest today.”
The letter, published on Tuesday, claimed that the Trump administration was damaging FEMA’s capacity to respond to disasters by cutting staff, ridding the agency of climate change ideology, and interfering with preparedness programs. Roughly 200 FEMA employees signed the letter.  
The Trump administration said it was bringing much-needed accountability and reforms to the agency. 
“The truth is simple: FEMA was failing the American people. DHS is finally forcing change, and for the first time in years, real accountability is on the table,” the DHS spokesman told The Daily Wire. 
For years, FEMA has been plagued by incompetence. Under President Joe Biden, the agency faced sharp criticism over its handling of both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. Flooding victims in North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee waited for days before federal responders showed up. 
In Florida, a FEMA supervisor ordered her disaster response team to skip the homes of people with Trump signs or flags. That led to at least 20 homes in the Lake Placid area being skipped over because of their political beliefs. That employee was only fired after The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs">reported</a> on the guidance. 
Earlier this year, an Atlanta woman was <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/atlanta-woman-heading-prison-paying-114916916.html">sentenced</a> to prison and ordered to pay a $1.7 million fine after she was awarded a $156 million contract in 2017 to provide 30 million self-heating meals to Puerto Ricans recovering from a devastating hurricane. Brown was convicted of fraud after only delivering 50,000 meals that were not self-heating. 
Other recent reports from independent government watchdogs have not been kind to the agency. 
A <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-91.pdf">report</a> published in February 2021 from the Government Accountability Office found that FEMA’s 2018 response to disasters in the Pacific Islands was lackluster and consistently failed to meet the agency’s goals. 
For example, it found that FEMA completed the pre-award process for its Public Assistance program within the established timeframe for only 14% of its 492 projects in its response to disasters in the Pacific. The pre-award phase took nearly 13 months, much longer than its goal of 189 days. 
The report also found that for the entirety of fiscal year 2019, FEMA obligated just 28% of all Public Assistance projects with targeted time frames. 
A <a href="https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2020-09/OIG-20-76-Sep20.pdf">later report</a> from the Inspector General on FEMA’s handling of Hurricanes Irma and Maria found that the agency “lost visibility” on commodity shipments worth $257 million to Puerto Rico. Commodities successfully delivered in Puerto Rico took an average of 69 days to reach their final destination, the report found. 
Another <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-24-105557.pdf">report</a> from Puerto Rico found that nearly three years after it was rocked by hurricanes and earthquakes, Puerto Rico had spent less than 10% of the money authorized for recovery. At the time, an additional $11 billion was still not approved by FEMA. 
More recent reports from the Inspector General have also found problems with FEMA’s allocation of funds. 
A report published in April 2020 <a href="https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2020-04/OIG-20-23-Apr20.pdf">found</a> that the agency has made over $3 billion in potentially fraudulent payments since 2003. The report found that FEMA does “not collect sufficient supporting documentation or verify that applicants claiming to have no insurance are eligible for home repair assistance.”
Another <a href="https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2025-01/OIG-25-13-Jan25.pdf">report</a> from January 2025 found major problems with FEMA’s performance during COVID. The report found that the agency over-obligated at least $1.5 billion for one state’s medical staffing grant, neglected to determine the cost allowability of $8.1 billion drawn down by a state, and made at least another $32.8 million in improper payments. 
FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program is also fiscally unstable with billions of dollars in debt. In March 2025, the Congressional Research Service <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IN10784">found</a> that the program was $22.5 billion in debt. 
“For more than a decade, independent watchdogs and news reports have documented systemic FEMA failures that delayed help to survivors, wasted billions, and trapped communities in red tape. These failures spanned multiple administrations and remained unaddressed until President Trump and Secretary Noem had the courage to call out these problems and fix them,” a DHS spokesman told The Daily Wire. 
 While some legacy outlets have attacked the Trump administration over the devastating Texas flooding over the Fourth of July, many state leaders have been supportive of the administration’s efforts. 
“I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years, and I can say with confidence that this was the fastest and most effective federal support Texas has ever received,” Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management Nim Kidd told The Daily Wire. “That kind of partnership &#8211; moving the right resources at the right time &#8211; saved lives and made all the difference in our response.”
Kidd said that every Urban Search and Rescue team he requested from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was “deployed without delay.” 
President Donald Trump has taken a number of steps to reevaluate FEMA’s role and explore the possibility of shifting the responsibility of disaster response more squarely onto the states. In January, he created a council to assess the agency’s effectiveness and look at potential alternatives.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Tours Notorious Prison During Trip To El Salvador

‘Broken System’: Trump Admin Rips FEMA Bureaucrats ‘Kicking And Screaming’ Over Reforms

'Broken System': Trump Admin Rips FEMA Bureaucrats 'Kicking And Screaming' Over Changes

A new bipartisan bill would make FEMA directly accountable to the president and officially prohibit political discrimination in disaster relief. 
The new <a href="https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fema_discussion_draft_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198289-345">bill</a>, officially introduced Thursday, would make FEMA an independent agency and look to cut down on the red tape that has bogged down the agency for years. It would also add explicit protections for political beliefs after an employee <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs">was caught</a> last year directing emergency responders to skip the homes of Trump supporters. 
“The American people need an emergency management system that works quickly and effectively, not one that makes disaster recovery more difficult,” <a href="https://democrats-transportation.house.gov/news/press-releases/committee-leaders-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-dramatically-reform-fema">said</a> Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), the chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. “But time and time again, we’ve heard the same story from state and local officials, emergency managers, and disaster victims: the federal process is too slow, complicated, and disconnected from the realities on the ground.”
The bill was also introduced by Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Transportation Committee, and Reps. Daniel Webster (R-FL) and Greg Stanton (D-AZ). 
A previous draft of the legislation was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lawmakers-renew-efforts-to-protect-disaster-victims-from-political-discrimination?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Lawmakers+Renew+Efforts+To+Protect+Disaster+Victims+From+Political+Discrimination">introduced</a> in May for public comment and input from emergency management professionals. 
The bill would seek to incentivize states to save up their own funds for emergencies, speed up the emergency grant approval process, close out the roughly 1,000 disaster declarations dating back to Hurricane Katrina, and streamline the application for aid.  
One of the key components of the draft legislation is that it would add “political affiliation” as a protected status under current federal law. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-senator-vows-to-stop-fema-from-discriminating-against-republicans">previously introduced</a> legislation in the Senate that would do the same thing.
This proposal comes after The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs">reported</a> in November that FEMA supervisor Marn’i Washington ordered relief workers in Lake Placid, Florida, to skip the homes of people “advertising Trump.” Washington and three other FEMA employees were fired over the instructions, which caused over 20 homes to be skipped by FEMA workers.
President Donald Trump has called for dramatic reforms to FEMA and floated the idea of getting rid of the agency completely. In an executive order, he called for the creation of a federal council to look at the possibility of getting rid of FEMA and shifting responsibility to the states.

Storm Helene Causes Massive Flooding Across Swath Of Western North Carolina

New Bill Would Overhaul FEMA, Ban Political Discrimination In Disaster Relief

WASHINGTON—Congressman August Pfluger recalled the devastation that swept through his hometown during the July 4th floods in a candid interview with The Daily Wire on Tuesday.
The Texas Republican spoke with Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan during the &#8220;new media row&#8221; event sponsored by the Republican Study Committee, which he chairs. Pfluger represents Texas&#8217;s 11th district, which includes many of the communities stricken by the floods.
He said two of his daughters were at Camp Mystic when the floods hit.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a horrible feeling as a parent to know that you&#8217;re not sure whether your children are okay,&#8221; Pfluger said. &#8220;And in this case of my two daughters that were there and had been going to this camp for a long time, it was a very scary moment.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;re lucky my daughters, who were at the camp, are safe,&#8221; Pfluger said. &#8220;You know, it was very, very stressful and hard to go through that, but Texans are strong &#8230; We need a lot of prayers from around the country right now.&#8221;
Twenty-seven Camp Mystic campers, many around eight years old, and several camp counselors, died in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unimaginable-tragedy-camp-mystic-says-27-campers-and-counselors-killed-in-sudden-flash-floods" target="_blank" rel="noopener">floods</a>.
&#8220;It&#8217;s truly tragic,&#8221; Pfluger said. &#8220;So many families are grieving right now. … It&#8217;s hard to even describe what happened. I mean, just something on a scale and magnitude that we&#8217;ve never seen. And our prayers were with a lot of families.&#8221;
Pfluger expressed his gratitude to the quick actions of Texas Governor Abbot and the Trump administration for declaring disasters in the state.
When some <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/libs-dragged-for-blaming-texas-flood-disaster-on-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commentators</a> began to inject politics into the bleak situation, Pfluger noted that this travesty was an opportunity for those who sit in different political camps to come together.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve had many Democrats who have reached out to me in this period,&#8221; Pfluger said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve learned a lot about those people, and they didn&#8217;t say one thing about any of the politicization, but there are those who have chosen to do that.&#8221;
&#8220;There&#8217;s no place for [politicization]. … I think the rest of us — the rest of society — just want to know how can we help. That&#8217;s the first question that most people ask. That&#8217;s the part of society that I want to be with. Those are the people that I think are going to help all of us rise up and be strong, whose voices are louder right now.&#8221;
While the final toll of the devastation will not be fully known until the affected communities recover, there are still countless searches ongoing. Those in central Texas not searching for a loved one have begun attempting to return their communities to normalcy.
&#8220;If you know somebody and most people have a connection in Texas, especially to somebody who was affected by this, reach out to them, ask him how they&#8217;re doing,&#8221; Pfluger urged Americans.
&#8220;It&#8217;s okay if you asked them before. Ask them again.&#8221;

House Lawmakers Work On Funding Deal As Possible Government Shutdown Looms

Congressman August Pfluger Shares Firsthand Experience During Texas Floods

Floods

House Republicans

Texas

A new bipartisan proposal would significantly overhaul FEMA and ensure that there is no political discrimination in the distribution of emergency aid.
The proposal, from Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Rep. Rick Larson (D-WA), would make FEMA an independent agency that directly reports to the president, transfer significant responsibility to the states for handling natural disaster responses, and officially prohibit political discrimination. Graves, the chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, released a <a href="https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fema_discussion_draft_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198289-345" target="_blank" rel="noopener">draft</a> of the bill on Thursday.
&#8220;We have clearly seen that FEMA is not working as it should for Americans who’ve been impacted by disasters. Congress has passed FEMA reforms over the years, but it simply hasn’t been enough,&#8221; Graves said. &#8220;This draft bill includes substantive changes that will transform FEMA and our emergency programs to be much more state and locally driven – not micro-managed into ineffectiveness by the federal government.&#8221;
One of the key components of the draft legislation is that it would add &#8220;political affiliation&#8221; as a protected status under current federal law. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-senator-vows-to-stop-fema-from-discriminating-against-republicans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously introduced</a> legislation in the Senate that would do the same thing.
This proposal comes after The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in November that FEMA supervisor Marn&#8217;i Washington ordered relief workers in Lake Placid, Florida, to skip the homes of people &#8220;advertising Trump.&#8221; Washington and three other FEMA employees were fired over the instructions, which caused over 20 homes to be skipped by FEMA workers.
The draft legislation would also seek to return more agency to the states &#8220;by replacing the slow and bureaucratic rebuilding process with faster, project-based grants&#8221; and reducing &#8220;their dependence on costly consultants,&#8221; according to the committee. The lawmakers also hope to streamline the application process for requesting assistance by reducing paperwork and providing quicker responses.
Graves and Larson also want to incentivize states to make their own investments in mitigation, robust state rainy day funds, and private insurance policies.
The proposal comes as President Donald Trump has called for dramatic reforms to FEMA and floated the idea of getting rid of the agency completely. In an executive order, he called for the creation of a federal council to look at the possibility of getting rid of FEMA and shifting over responsibility to the states.
On Thursday, Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton was fired and replaced with Department of Homeland Security official David Richardson. Hamilton&#8217;s ouster comes one day after he said that he personally didn&#8217;t think that it would be a good idea to get rid of FEMA.

Lawmakers Renew Efforts To Protect Disaster Victims From Political Discrimination

Natural Disaster

U.S.

The acting administrator of FEMA has been ousted one day after he said that he disagreed with the Trump administration&#8217;s push to dismantle the agency and return emergency response authority back to the states.
Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton was fired on Thursday and replaced with another senior Department of Homeland Security official. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin confirmed to The Daily Wire that David Richardson, currently the assistant secretary for DHS&#8217; Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, would be taking on the role of senior official performing the duties of administrator.
Hamilton&#8217;s firing comes after he testified before the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Homeland Security and said he did not support eliminating FEMA.
“As the senior advisor to the president on disasters and emergency management, and to the Secretary of Homeland Security, I do not believe it is in the best interest the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” he said on Wednesday. “Having said that, I am not in a position to make decisions and impact outcomes on whether or not a determination as consequential as that should be made. That is a conversation that should be had between the President of the United States and this governing body.”
President Donald Trump formed a government council earlier this year intended to evaluate FEMA and potentially consider its elimination.
“I am proud to announce the formation of the FEMA Review Council, comprised of Top Experts in their fields, who are Highly Respected by their peers,” Trump <a href="https://x.com/TrumpDailyPosts/status/1916943942156734688">posted</a> on Truth Social last week. “I know that the new Members will work hard to fix a terribly broken System, and return power to State Emergency Managers, who will help, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN. Congratulations to all!”
That came after he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-promises-overhaul-of-fema-floats-getting-rid-of-agency?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Promises+Overhaul+Of+FEMA%2C+Floats+‘Getting+Rid+Of’+Agency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in January that he was looking at potentially &#8220;getting rid&#8221; of FEMA and giving states more control over their response to natural disasters. Under Trump&#8217;s plan, the federal government would still provide funding for emergency operations.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-dem-no-evidence-fema-discriminated-against-trump-supporters-under-biden?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=House+Dem%3A+‘No+Evidence’+FEMA+Discriminated+Against+Trump+Supporters+Under+Biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Tuesday that Trump believed that FEMA had largely failed the American people.
“President Trump has been very clear since the beginning that he believes that FEMA and its response, in many, many circumstances, has failed the American people and that FEMA, as it exists today, should be eliminated and empowering states to respond to disasters with federal government support,” she said.
FEMA has come under fire in recent months after it was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> to have skipped the homes of Trump supporters in Florida for political reasons. The agency was also criticized over its sluggish response to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

Acting Director Of FEMA Cam Hamilton Testifies Before House Appropriations Subcommittee

Top FEMA Official Fired After Saying He Doesn’t Think Agency Should Be Dismantled

Executive

Kristi Noem

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