The Trump administration has sent a referral to the Department of Justice recommending Biden-era Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff face criminal charges, alleging politicization of emergency funding.

However, the effort to claim officials at the disaster agency considered politics when performing their duties has apparently turned up only a handful of instances of FEMA employees mentioning political figures during former President Biden's time in office.

A press release from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday accuses FEMA officials under the prior administration of having “systematically refused aid to disaster survivors on purely political discrimination.”

It also raises the specter of charges for former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, arguing she was wrong when she testified under oath that one FEMA employee’s instruction not to canvas houses hit by Hurricane Milton if they had a Trump sign was simply an isolated incident.

“The actions of this employee are unacceptable, and it is not indicative of the culture of FEMA, and I do not believe that there is a widespread cultural problem,” Criswell said when testifying before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last year.

Beyond Criswell, an accompanying 22-page report from DHS’s Office of Privacy also suggests FEMA employees may have violated the Privacy Act of 1974, which dictates what information government employees can retain on U.S. citizens.

However, their review of four years of data from FEMA employees and contractors found just 15 incidents in which personnel referenced President Trump in their work canvassing properties to let owners know they could apply for assistance. In just two cases,........

© The Hill