A FEMA worker was removed from his position 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 from her job after she advised her disaster relief team to avoid houses with signs supporting President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Florida in the wake of Hurricane Milton, the agency said Friday.

A FEMA spokesperson told CNN in a statement that the agency was “deeply disturbed by the actions of this employee” and the incident was under investigation. The agency did not identify the employee.

“While we believe this is an isolated incident, we have taken action to remove the employee from his position and are investigating the matter to prevent this from ever happening again. The staff member who issued these notices had no authority and was not instructed to say this.” “We are asking our teams to avoid these homes and we are reaching out to the people who may not have been reached as a result of this incident,” said the speaker.

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

The agency is currently 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 to contact those who may not have been reached before.

The spokesman declined to provide additional information about the incident or elaborate on how agency officials were informed of it, citing the ongoing investigation. However, he said in the statement that FEMA officials are “appalled that this happened and have therefore taken extreme measures to correct the situation” and have ensured the matter has been 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.”

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