Skip to the story
All StoriesPoliticsConflict & SecurityBusiness & EconomyScience & TechHealthClimateMedia
All stories
Politics14 outlets ran this3 min read

FEMA crew skipped 11 homes with Trump signs, watchdog finds

Homeland Security report details Hatch Act violations and inadequate training

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
FEMA staffers illegally skipped over Hurricane Milton survivors’ homes that had Trump signage on the properties, according to a federal watchdog report (Getty)

What this story says

  • A Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report found a FEMA crew skipped 11 homes displaying political signs supporting Donald Trump during 2024 Hurricane Milton recovery efforts.
  • The incident violated the Hatch Act and FEMA internal regulations, according to the watchdog report.
  • FEMA fired the crew leader, Marn’i Washington, and other involved staffers following the findings.
  • The report also determined that FEMA had not adequately provided training on ethics violations and the Hatch Act.

Who covered it

Left 15%(2)Centre 31%(4)Right 54%(7)

Percentages are shares of the 13 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 14 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

60/100

Craft

65/100

Hype

45/100

14 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 2 of the 13 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) crew deliberately bypassed 11 homes displaying political signage supporting Donald Trump during recovery efforts for Hurricane Milton in 2024. This action violated the Hatch Act and FEMA internal regulations, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The OIG report stated that the crew leader, Marn’i Washington, instructed her team to avoid properties with Trump 2024 campaign signage. Following the investigation, FEMA terminated Washington and other staffers involved in the incident. The watchdog also found that FEMA had not sufficiently trained its employees on ethics violations and the Hatch Act.

Disagreements on reasons for skipping homes

The Independent reported that Marn’i Washington told NewsNation she was being "framed" and "simply following orders," citing "hostile" encounters her team experienced at homes with Trump signs. The Washington Post stated that the crew leader told staff to avoid these homes over safety concerns. The Independent also noted that then-FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell testified to the House Oversight Committee that Washington’s actions were "unacceptable" and that evidence suggested it was an "isolated incident."

What the coverage left out

None of the right-rated digests mention that investigators could not determine if crews skipped homes for other unallowable reasons during other disasters because the watchdog office cannot access records from the survey program. None of the centre-rated digests mention this detail either. The Independent's full report included this information.

Tags:#FEMA#HatchAct#ElectionIntegrity#GovernmentAccountability#HurricaneMilton

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 6 times, most recently on 26 Aug 2026, 13:15, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

2 rated outlets

  • The left-rated reports from The Independent and The Washington Post highlighted that the FEMA crew skipped homes due to the presence of political signage supporting Donald Trump. The Independent, which provided a full report, included statements from former Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger explaining that a federal employee violates the Hatch Act by engaging in explicit partisan political bias on the job. It also quoted Democrats on the House Oversight Committee pointing out that Donald Trump, during his first administration, "deliberately and outspokenly" withheld aid to political rivals without consequence. Both reports noted the watchdog's finding that FEMA had not adequately provided training around ethics violations and the Hatch Act.

Centre

4 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated reports from Fox8, The Hill, UPI, and Internewscast focused on the core finding that a FEMA crew violated the Hatch Act by skipping homes with Trump signs during Hurricane Milton recovery efforts. Fox8 and The Hill specifically mentioned the internal watchdog's finding. UPI stated that a government watchdog confirmed the violation of the Hatch Act during hurricane relief efforts in 2024. Internewscast reported that FEMA relief workers intentionally passed over homes displaying support for Donald Trump.

Right

7 rated outlets

  • The right-rated reports from Just the News, MEAWW Entertainment, New York Post, house.gov, Washington Times, The National Pulse, and CLG News led with the finding that FEMA broke laws or federal law by skipping homes with Trump signs. Just the News reported the crew leader told team members to avoid homes with Trump signs due to safety concerns. The New York Post and house.gov mentioned that the inspector general's office also faulted former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for not funding a contractor that could have provided more data on whether crews skipped homes for unallowable reasons during other disasters. The Washington Times stated that federal emergency workers refused services to at least 11 homes because they had pro-Trump signs, violating the agency's nonpolitical guidelines. The National Pulse and CLG News used strong language, calling the findings "confirmed" and "shocking," respectively.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover FEMA crew skipped 11 homes with Trump signs, watchdog finds?
Of the 13 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 15% are rated left, 31% are rated centre, 54% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 14. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is FEMA crew skipped 11 homes with Trump signs, watchdog finds left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 13 rated outlets on this story, 15% are rated left, 31% are rated centre, 54% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of FEMA crew skipped 11 homes with Trump signs, watchdog finds biased?
FEMA crew skipped 11 homes with Trump signs, watchdog finds is one event reported by 14 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting FEMA crew skipped 11 homes with Trump signs, watchdog finds?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered FEMA crew skipped 11 homes with Trump signs, watchdog finds?
14 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What did the FEMA crew do wrong?
A FEMA crew skipped 11 homes displaying political signs supporting Donald Trump during Hurricane Milton recovery efforts in 2024. This action violated the Hatch Act, which limits partisan political activities for federal employees, and FEMA's internal regulations, according to a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report.
What was the outcome for the FEMA crew involved?
FEMA fired the crew leader, Marn’i Washington, and other staffers involved in the incident. The agency also provided additional mandatory ethics training on the Hatch Act to its employees following the watchdog's findings.
What did the watchdog report say about FEMA's training?
The watchdog report determined that FEMA had not adequately provided training to its employees regarding ethics violations and the Hatch Act. This lack of sufficient training was identified as a contributing factor in the incident.

Read it at the source

14 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

2

Centre

4

Right

7

Not rated

1

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

More in Politics

All Politics →
Darline Graham avoids 2020 election certification question2 min readDarline Graham avoids 2020 election certification questionRead storyDan Sullivan, a candidate in Alaska's U.S. Senate race who shares his name with the incumbent seeking reelection, talks with a reporter, July 3, 2026, in Petersburg, Alaska. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)3 min readSecond Dan Sullivan advances in Alaska Senate primaryRead storySenator Ralph Alvarado Jr. speaks during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.3 min readKentucky Candidate Ralph Alvarado Removes Trump Mentions From WebsiteRead story
FEMA Crew Skips Trump Homes | MediaBias News