Fired FEMA worker speaks out

Reporter: Claire Galt
Published: Updated:

The FEMA team leader who was fired for telling her crew to skip properties with signs supporting Donald Trump in a Highlands County mobile home park is pushing back.

FEMA fired Marn’i Washington, saying that what she did, she did on her own.

Washington is now telling her side of the story.

She said this was in no way her idea and not an isolated incident.

She pointed her accusatory finger at FEMA and her bosses.

Washington told Roland Martin Unfiltered on YouTube that she sent a message to her team telling them to “avoid homes with Trump signs” because she was trained to de-escalate and avoid conflict, a conflict she claimed came from people who supported Trump, and Washington said this is happening both in Florida and in the Carolinas.

“So, FEMA is very well aware of the incidents that take place, not just with my crew, but with all of the crews in the state that’s declared, and instead of just saying, ‘Hey, this is how we’re going to mitigate it to protect our people,’ they decided to fire me and make sure Donald Trump knows that they are loyal to him because they fear retribution,” Washington said.

She continued, “They will find this is not isolated. Again, I state this over and over again, this is colossal. This is not just isolated to Florida. Check out what’s going on in the Carolinas. There’s so many news articles where we have been people coming after FEMA employees with guns targeting us to kill us, not realizing that we’re just fellow Americans like they are, and we want to go back home to our families, too. Their issue is with FEMA infrastructure and how they implement duty. It does need to be revamped. It does need restructuring, and it does. It’s going to have to start with the truth. No matter who is in that office, there is a problem with FEMA.”

Washington said FEMA exploited and mistreated her and said if the House oversight committee called her to testify, she would go.

Congressman Greg Stuebe told us that could happen as soon as next week.

He expects the FEMA administrator, Deanne Criswell, to testify as well.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management is also investigating what did and did not happen in this mobile home park, and its director, Kevin Guthrie, told WINK News if he finds evidence of criminal wrongdoing, he will demand charges be filed.

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