The Biden administration weaponized disaster relief against its own citizens.
Now a federal watchdog has put it in an official report – and the words FEMA workers typed into government logs are still sitting there.
What those logs said has a federal watchdog calling it a violation of law.
FEMA Workers Skipped Trump Supporter Homes and Left a Paper Trail
Hurricane Milton tore through Florida in October 2024, and FEMA sent crews door to door to connect survivors with emergency assistance.
What those crews wrote in their official logs told the whole story.
One entry dated October 19, 2024, noted a home was skipped because of political signage.
Three days later, another entry read simply: "did not visit due to Trump flag."
Nine more notes about political signage followed – all from the same crew led by FEMA supervisor Marn'i Washington.
For nine full days, FEMA management had no idea this was happening.
That's because the agency never required crew leaders to review the survey notes their workers were filing in real time.
The Department of Homeland Security inspector general released a formal report confirming all of it this week.
At least 11 homes were deliberately bypassed because their owners supported Donald Trump.
"FEMA personnel violated policy when a Disaster Survivor Assistance crew skipped 11 homes with political signage during the response to Hurricane Milton in Florida," the inspector general concluded. "These actions eroded public trust in FEMA's ability to treat everyone impartially."
FEMA Inspector General Report Cannot Confirm How Many Trump Supporters Were Skipped
Washington told her team to "avoid homes advertising Trump."
The Office of Special Counsel charged her with two Hatch Act counts – engaging in political activity while on duty, and using her official authority to interfere with the result of a federal election.
She was fired.
But Washington didn't go quietly.
She told media that pro-Trump households were more "hostile and dangerous" – her claim that a yard sign made a hurricane victim too dangerous to help.
Washington told the media the skipping went beyond Florida.
She said on a November 2024 broadcast that Trump supporter homes were avoided in North and South Carolina as well – and that avoiding politically hostile areas was widespread FEMA practice, not a rogue call she made alone.
Republicans in Congress immediately demanded a full investigation into every Biden-era disaster response.
A separate DHS internal probe ordered by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem found they had reason to investigate.
That investigation – released in October 2025 – concluded the targeting was not isolated to Hurricane Milton at all.
It found a pattern of political discrimination tracing back to Hurricane Ida in 2021, spanning eight states over three years.
Biden's FEMA administrator had testified to Congress under oath that the Florida incident was isolated.
The DHS probe said otherwise.
As for the current inspector general's report – it cannot confirm or deny how far the Milton-era targeting spread.
The records that might have revealed it were stored in a contractor database that no longer exists – the contract lapsed, and the data went with it.
FEMA Withheld Disaster Relief Over Trump Signs and Called It a Training Problem
The Hatch Act has been federal law since 1939.
Congress passed it after FDR's New Deal created an army of federal workers and the Roosevelt administration used them to punish political opponents and reward loyalists.
The whole purpose of the law – for more than 80 years – has been to guarantee that Americans get government services based on need, not politics.
Washington broke that law in writing, and her crew put it in official records.
For nine days, Biden's FEMA had no system in place to catch it.
The inspector general blamed "poor training and oversight."
That's bureaucratic language for something simpler: nobody in Biden's FEMA thought political targeting was a problem worth watching for.
FEMA no longer sends workers door to door at all – the agency now sets up fixed sites and waits for disaster survivors to come to them.
That change means the next time a hurricane hits a red county, there is nothing for any inspector general to find.
Sources:
- "FEMA Refused to Visit 11 Pro-Trump Houses in 2024," Washington Times, August 25, 2026.
- OIG-26-21, Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, August 2026.
- "Ex-FEMA Employee Who Discouraged Helping Pro-Trump Homes Violated Hatch Act: OSC," Washington Examiner, February 13, 2025.
- Sen. Josh Hawley, Letter to Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, November 10, 2024, hawley.senate.gov.
- "DHS Exposes How FEMA Officials Under the Biden Administration Systematically Refused Aid to Disaster Survivors," Department of Homeland Security, October 21, 2025.
