FEMA fires employee who said to skip Trump-sign houses

The agency employee deviated from FEMA’s values with reprehensible behavior, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell on Saturday said in a written statement. The agency employee told her survivor assistance team to skip homes advertising support for President-elect Donald Trump, Criswell said, confirming the bones of a story first reported Friday by The Daily Wire. The agency did not identify the former employee or say exactly when the incident occurred. However, The Daily Wire reported it took place in Lake Placid, Fla., following Hurricane Milton.

How have politicians reacted? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday called the situation a weaponization of government by partisan activists and directed the state Division of Emergency Management to investigate the incident. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and Gov. Bill Lee criticized the agency and said they would demand answers about whether FEMA employees perpetrated political discrimination in Tennessee. Alabama Senator Katie Britt on Saturday wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Criswell demanding accountability. Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., said he looked forward to approving Trump Cabinet members to stop what he called abhorrent nonsense. 

Dig deeper:Read Addie Offeriens’ report about the criticism FEMA is facing.