Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused disaster employees in the Biden administration of violating privacy laws by documenting supporters of Donald Trump as they went door to door in North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene last year.
The assertions, included in an internal investigation released Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security, pointed to notes taken by employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency about households that had Trump campaign yard signs. The report said DHS officials had sent the findings to the Department of Justice for “potential prosecution.”
The investigation is the latest response to a widely publicized incident in October 2024 involving a low-level disaster supervisor in North Carolina who told some employees to avoid homes displaying signs that showed support for Trump, who as a presidential candidate at the time had been fiercely critical of FEMA’s response to the hurricane.
The employee was quickly fired by FEMA officials, and an agency investigation completed in March found that she was acting on her own and not following FEMA guidelines. Republicans in Congress, however, alleged that FEMA was politicizing disaster aid to penalize Trump supporters.
