EXCLUSIVE — A report from earlier this week showed that a FEMA supervisor advised her team to “avoid” Florida homes “advertising Trump.” That supervisor, Marn’i Washington, says she is a “patsy” and that FEMA made her a “scapegoat.”
Washington told the Washington Examiner that not only did she and her teams canvas houses with Trump signage, “we’ve registered and provided resources to Trump supporters.”
The language in the leaked screenshot was “shorthand,” according to Washington. She explained the full context: Washington let her supervisors “know specific streets we could not do because of hostile political encounters,” and according to communications obtained by the Washington Examiner, she was encouraged and supported in her decision to avoid certain streets “to keep the team safe.”
Washington noted that the next bullet point on the leaked message spoke about de-escalation, which she said was necessary because “FEMA workers were having their lives threatened.”
Several of these hostile encounters were documented in the media, but Washington is demanding FEMA “turn over incident reports” showing additional hostilities that resulted in her having to avoid certain streets.
The Washington Examiner filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Homeland Security to obtain these reports.
“The running trend of those encounters just so happened to [be at houses that] have Trump campaign signage,” Washington said. “The notation that was leaked had nothing to do with their political stance. It was with the objective of safety.”
After the bombshell report came out on Thursday, Washington said she “received death threats.” She said “I agree with the whistleblowers. They are telling you the truth,” but that the real issue is that FEMA employees are not given the resources and protection they need to be able to provide help to every household.
She said they do not have a police patrol or FEMA security team that follows the crews in Florida. “What we have is ourselves to survive,” Washington said. “And they will tell you, ‘Oh, if you do get in too much of a pickle, call 911.’” That’s why “the first thing [mentioned in the leaked message] is avoidance, and then the next thing is de-escalation.”
Washington noted that a number of property owners marked their houses with purple paint to signify that entering those properties is prohibited, often with additional signs suggesting that trespassers will be shot.
“This is the second time Trump’s been going into office, and FEMA has been up to some shenanigans that don’t necessarily agree with the American political views,” she said, in reference to Hurricane Maria. “Everybody deserves a chance at disaster relief, and they have not figured out a way [to accomplish that] without subjecting their teammates to hostile work environments.”
As a result, she says, orders from the top say to “try to avoid [hostile places] at all costs.”
Washington said that FEMA told her not to speak with the media, and that the government agency would “take care of it.” Instead, she said they “ghosted her” and “used my silence and allegiance to subject me to more scrutiny and to use me as a scapegoat for what’s going on.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to FEMA for comment.