A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employee has been sacked after telling staff not to help hurricane survivors who displayed signs at their homes supporting Donald Trump.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis had said he directed the state’s Division of Emergency Management to launch an investigation into “the federal government’s targeted discrimination of Floridians who support” the president-elect.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell called the worker’s behaviour “reprehensible” in a statement, which confirmed the unnamed employee, who has not been identified, had been fired.
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Florida was hit by back-to-back hurricanes, Helene and Milton. The storms left more than 200 people dead in their wake, including in North Carolina and Georgia, and many structures destroyed.
Ms Creswell, who did not clarify where or when the incident occurred, said more than 22,000 FEMA employees are dedicated to helping people impacted by disasters.
“Recently, one FEMA employee departed from these values to advise her survivor assistance team to not go to homes with yard signs supporting president-elect Trump,” she said.
“This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. This was reprehensible.
“I want to be clear to all of my employees and the American people, this type of behaviour and action will not be tolerated at FEMA and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct.
“We take our mission to help everyone before, during and after disasters seriously. This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel. I will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again.”
It comes as Sky’s US partner network NBC News projected Mr Trump has won in Arizona, confirming his sweep of the seven swing states and bringing his total number of electoral college votes to 312 versus Kamala Harris’s 226.
He took to the stage in West Palm Beach in Florida to address jubilant supporters and declare victory early on Wednesday as the early results came in.