Rep. Stauber to Newsmax: Investigate FEMA

Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., called for an internal investigation into the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to determine how deep the anti-Trump sentiment goes after reports that a now-fired FEMA supervisor told hurricane relief workers to avoid homes in Florida showing support for President-elect Donald Trump.

"If I were in charge, FEMA's director, [Deanne] Criswell, would have been terminated immediately when I heard what happened on the ground," Stauber said Wednesday on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "Very disappointing. There are still areas that FEMA hasn't touched yet, and you heard it from the testimony from the Florida congresswoman and the North Carolina congressman. It's simply unacceptable. We're going to hold her accountable, and we're going to have an inspector general report on why this happened. And is the anti-Trump sentiment permeating throughout FEMA? We have to wonder about that, and we suspect there are many more people that could be involved.

"She's not going to be the FEMA administrator under the Trump administration. We know that. But we still have to have that internal investigation, inspector general investigation, to see how bad it's permeated in the agency. Because, as I said in my questioning, the buck stops with her, and she eluded many questions, wouldn't tell us if she believes it's permeating throughout the agencies.

"And again, under this Biden administration, it's been devastating to the American people. When you're weaponizing your FBI, DOJ [Department of Justice], FEMA now, and so many others, and we have to stop that. We're all Americans, and we're going to hold these people accountable. We're going to hold the Biden administration accountable and the people that worked under his direction."

The House Oversight Committee grilled Criswell on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Stauber said her testimony before lawmakers was "pretty disappointing."

"The administrator didn't ask questions – she dodged questions," he said. "It's simply unacceptable that you have a FEMA administrator that can't hold her staff accountable. We have FEMA people on the ground that said, 'Don't go to houses with Trump flags on them or Republican-type leaning yard signs.' That's unacceptable. We are all Americans. FEMA is supposed to help every American and, in this case, this employee absolutely did not. These were people that needed help, and they didn't deliver the help because of politics. And we have to stop politicizing the federal government towards the American people. You saw under the Biden administration, it's all over. … It's really, really disappointing."

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