FEMA Hearing Recap
Lawmakers grilled FEMA chief over employees instructed to 'skip' homes of Trump supporters in multiple states
This week, members of Congress grilled FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell over employees in her agency being instructed to ‘skip’ or ‘avoid’ helping families in homes thought to be supporters of President-elect Donald Trump.
The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held the hearing on Nov. 20. The Committee issued a press release with key moments from the hearing.
Key Takeaways included in the release:
Reports indicate at least one FEMA official recently engaged in political discrimination in Florida against supporters of President Donald Trump, but concerns persist that there may be a broader pattern of discrimination at the agency.
FEMA Administrator Criswell confirmed that the official who ordered workers to skip homes displaying Trump campaign signs has been fired. She also noted that an investigation into the matter is ongoing. However, concerns persist about a broader pattern of discrimination within the agency.
During the hearing, Committee staff made contact with a new whistleblower who provided a credible account of discrimination. According to the whistleblower, a FEMA contractor visited the home of an elderly disabled veteran’s family in Georgia and recommended they remove Trump campaign materials and signs from their property. The contractor stated this advice stemmed from his FEMA supervisor’s view that Trump supporters are like domestic terrorists. Watch Chairman Comer’s remarks regarding this new whistleblower HERE.
FEMA Administrator Criswell committed under oath to turn over all communications and documents to the House Oversight Committee related to relief workers bypassing hurricane-impacted homes displaying campaign signs for President Trump.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) was one of the first to question Criswell. Foxx, who lives in one of the impacted areas and has seen first-hand what is happening on the ground, told Criswell "FEMA has fallen way short" of helping survivors in North Carolina.
Foxx tore into Criswell about the lack of real and timely information being given to victims in North Carolina, including telling her she and others in her area had been to a meeting where FEMA spent 30 minutes "bragging about what FEMA did" but not "providing basic information."
"One of my colleagues recently asked where 400 trailers full of supplies and aid were allegedly delivered in western North Carolina in the days after Hurricane Helene hit and he was told the trailers were delivered to the state emergency management headquarters but they also could not share where the aid — estimated to be worth between $4 and $10 million dollars — was actually located," Foxx told Criswell.
North Carolina's Department of Emergency Management headquarters are located in Raleigh on Gold Star Drive, near I-40/Wade Avenue and Blue Ridge Road. I've been there; it's not really visible from major roads. To access the site, one has to go through a guard shack manned by national guard members. The building is administrative in function but there is a lot of land around it where trailers and supplies could be housed.
Foxx then asked Criswell, "Is it correct that FEMA delivered aid to the state then simply absolved itself from ensuring the aid actually reached the people it was intended to help?"
Criswell responded that, "this is a partnership" and FEMA's ability to respond requires a "deep partnership" with federal, state and local authorities. She said the aid is given to the state who is then supposed to consult with local authorities to distribute the aid. In other words, Criswell passed the buck to the NC Department of Emergency Management, which is housed under the Department of Public Safety; a direct report to Governor Cooper.
Watch Foxx's interaction with Criswell:
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) questioned Criswell specifically about avoiding helping people in homes who might be Trump supporters. Criswell denied her agency singled out anyone but eventually defaulted to blaming "threats" and "harassment" to her staff, and specifically mentioned North Carolina.
What Criswell is referring to is the hoax that "armed militia" were "hunting FEMA" in North Carolina. I debunked that claim over a month ago. There was a single man involved:
The whole thing started with a Polk County gas station employee telling an Army captain he overheard one guy allegedly making threats about FEMA.According to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, the county communications center got a call about “a white male had an assault rifle and made the comment about possibly harming FEMA employees working after the disaster of Hurricane Helene in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock area.”Again, one guy.Yet, somehow this one guy turned into “trucks of armed militia,” which, according to this chronologically challenged Washington Post article, tracks back to an unnamed Forest Services official. This is what that official told other federal agencies:“FEMA has advised all federal responders (in) Rutherford County, NC, to stand down and evacuate the county immediately. Had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA.”It’s this Forest Service official’s statements that lead to FEMA backing out of the area for a while.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) questioned Criswell on Washington's claims and that of her supervisor, identified as Chad Hershey. Criswell, in part of her response, admitted that 20 homes had been skipped due to supporting Trump.
Watch the full exchange:
A few days after the hearing, the Committee sent a letter to Criswell with a list of ten documentation demands, all of which were requested to be turned over by Dec. 6, 2024.
The request include details about all team members and staff involved in Region 4 (southeast) surrounding the avoidance of Trump supporter homes.
One of the requests is for “Any reports or complaints from survivors in FEMA Region 4 about their homes not contacted by FEMA personnel, or more broadly, about apparent political discrimination since Hurricanes Helene and Milton.”
That item will be of interest given so many reports floating around on social media of FEMA being largely absent or denying services in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
More on the new whistleblower & claims of what’s happening in NC
Via RedState, Comer’s remarks about this whistleblower involving an interaction where an elderly veteran’s family were told to remove Trump campaign signs:
"My staff just made contact with a new whistleblower who provided a credible account that a FEMA contractor visited the home of an elderly disabled veteran's family around October 10," Comer stated. "While there, he recommended that the family remove Trump campaign materials and signs from their house and yard, stating that his FEMA supervisors view Trump supporters as domestic terrorists."
"The elderly homeowners were so frightened by this and afraid that they would not recover their loss that they removed the signs. Nevertheless, FEMA has not returned to their residence. This took place not in Florida, but Georgia."
If this went on in Florida and Georgia, it stands to reason it went on in North Carolina, although I have been unable to find any such complaints here in the Tarheel state as of yet. One reason may be because the impacted areas are much harder to reach.
One report in North Carolina that has been making the rounds comes from Matt Van Swol from Weaverville, who describes himself as "a self-taught landscape photographer, writer, and nuclear scientist for the US Department of Energy."
Van Swol posted a quick video clip to X on Nov. 20, critical of FEMA bragging about its direct housing program, which has only delivered four housing units two months after Helene hit.
Just two days earlier, Van Swol posted aerial video shots of one of many apparent "tent cities" that survivors are housed in.
""I hate that I even have to post this," Van Swol wrote. " Here is aerial footage I shot this morning of one of the many "tent cities" in #WNC due to Helene.FEMA says these don't exist. Yet, here it is."
"So, where are you FEMA? Why have you abandoned us?" wrote Van Swol. "I don't understand."
Van Swol's post about the FEMA housing issue is also mentioned in an X post from a woman named Cassie Clark, who goes by the handle @dogwoodblooms.
In a Nov. 20 post on X, Clark says she got a message from someone at the General Assembly (NCGA) about FEMA activity.
"Whistleblower from NCGA reveals there are FEMA trailers sitting in Hickory right now and FEMA has no timeline on when those will be deployed to those who need them," Clark wrote. "Meanwhile, people across the region are sleeping in tents. Tonight it will snow - and the temps will be in the teens in some areas. Where are our civil servants? Who is going to answer for this?"
The post contains a video of Clark explaining what she was told and includes an additional reply with screenshots of the information she allegedly received from someone at the NCGA.
Clark says in the video that the source contacted FEMA to see when these trailers would be delivered to those needing it in western North Carolina and she posted the response the NCGA source received but redacted the identifying information of the FEMA official who responded. The response appears to confirm what Van Swol posted about FEMA's housing program.
I have been unable to verify this set of communications with my sources at the NCGA, but I have more calls to make.
Clark also pointed out survivors are living in tents and how cold it is now getting in the mountains, with some areas already seeing snow. She says she knows of two tent cities in Swannanoa (Buncombe County) that survivors are living in right now. Clark also said the last time she was in Clark (Haywood County), people were also sleeping in tents and that people in Transylvania County have been requesting FEMA trailers for "seven weeks."
In her most recent post, Clark is organizing folks to "put pressure on our civil servants to expedite aid to WNC." That pressure means emailing the relevant Congressional representation and NC statehouse representation. The post has a reply to it with a letter template for people to use to contact those officials. The letter includes urgent requests:
The NCGA just passed its third round of Helene relief bringing the total to over $1.1B so far. There were a lot of non-hurricane items in this bill, which has drawn heavy criticism from Democrats and it is possible Governor Roy Cooper may veto it. Read my official report on this latest round of funding at North State Journal.
Some of North Carolina’s Congressional delegation seem very aware of what’s happening housing-wise in western North Carolina.
On Nov. 22, North Carolina’s Sens. Ted Budd and Thom Tillis, along with Foxx and Rep. Chuck Edwards sent a letter to President Biden urging him to “immediately direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to deploy FEMA temporary housing resources – including travel trailers and manufactured homes.” (Full press release here)
The same day Criswell was in front of the House Oversight Committee, Tillis was testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, asking for more funds for North Carolina. Criswell was also at that hearing, telling the members FEMA is almost out of money and needs more. Read my article at North State Journal for the details on that hearing.
Unvetted Claims
These are posts on social media that I haven’t been able to vet yet
A video of a Helene recovery camp director in Burnsville says that the county “shut down 100 newly donated tiny homes,” claiming they won’t pass inspection.
A photo of tents and other ad-hoc housing which tags Governor Roy Cooper in the post. The implication Helene survivors are living in these tents and trailers as snow hits the mountain regions. The same account claims that an 18-month old child died of hypothermia as a result.
The NC Dept. of Health and Human Services sends out fatality updates twice a week to media; this alleged death is not currently on the list, which totals 103 as of Nov. 21. The post making that claim was issued Nov. 22, so I will be on the look out for this in the next fatality list update. If it’s not on there, I plan to ask about it.
If you have a credible source or tip on what’s happening in NC counties impacted by Hurricane Helene, contact me at: apdillon@protonmail.com