HIGHLANDS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Angela Wrench said the Trump flag in her front yard should have nothing to do with her receiving federal aid for the storm damage in her backyard.
“I think it’s horrible. I think it’s a horrible thing that anybody thought that was OK,” said Wrench. “We pay our taxes. We have just as much right to that money as anyone. It shouldn’t have anything to do with our political beliefs, none whatsoever.”
“It was disappointing. I know that there’s a lot of people with a lot of emotions when it comes to this time of year for election and I don’t think it should matter how you voted or who you are,” said Jack Wolfe, who lives in Tropical Harbor Estates, which sustained tornado damage during Hurricane Milton.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director has confirmed the agency fired an employee who advised her survivor assistance team to not to go homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump.
“This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. This was reprehensible,” wrote FEMA director Deanne Criswell in a statement.
FEMA has referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel.
Wrench said three FEMA employees came to her home Saturday.
“I said ‘you are here because of the news, correct?’ They didn’t want to answer right away but one of them did finally say ‘yes, we’re just here trying to make things right’,” said Wrench.
“For a supervisor of FEMA to do that, I think it was just appalling. It shocked everyone,” said Highlands County commissioner Chris Campbell.
Campbell said the county has been told the alleged misconduct was limited to Lake Placid, which is recovering from a tornado that formed in Hurricane Milton’s outerbands.
He said FEMA brought in a new team and is retracing its steps.
“They’re going to knock on every door, whether they applied for assistance or not, whether they received it or not and just go through the process,” said Campbell.
Highlands has created an online portal to report any concerns about homes being skipped. That can be found here.
A congressional hearing is expected. U.S. Rep. Scott Franklin, a Republican, represents Lake Placid in Congress.
In a post on Facebook, he referred to the incident as “utterly disgusting” and called on FEMA to conduct a full investigation.
“This level of weaponization and incompetence is completely unacceptable—and it’s a big reason why President Trump was just re-elected in a landslide,” wrote Rep. Franklin, who also commended the individual who brought the misconduct to light and FEMA for taking swift action.
Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, at his direction, the Division of Emergency Management is launching an investigation.
“The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days,” said Gov. DeSantis in his post. “New leadership is on the way in DC, and I’m optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired.
