CNN Blames Trump Admin For Texas FEMA Delays, Ignores Agency’s Horrible Track Record

A recent CNN report blamed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for delaying the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the Texas flash floods. But the outlet ignored FEMA’s decades-long history of delays and mismanagement.

In the article, anonymous FEMA officials said recent changes to the organization caused delays in its ability to send aid to Texas. Most of the blame fell on Noem’s new rule requiring her personal sign-off on all grants and contracts of more than $100,000.

“We were operating under a clear set of guidance: lean forward, be prepared, anticipate what the state needs, and be ready to deliver it,” one FEMA official told CNN. “That is not as clear of an intent for us at the moment.”

Noem told “Fox & Friends” the CNN story was “absolutely trash,” noting that “Our Coast Guard, our Border Patrol BORTAC (Border Patrol Tactical Unit) teams were there immediately. Every single thing they asked for, we were there.”

But Democrats have used the story to criticize the Trump administration’s response to the Texas floods, which have killed at least 121 people.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) blamed “dramatic cuts” to FEMA and the National Weather Service for a poor federal response to the flood.

But meteorologists say there is no evidence that federal cuts delayed warnings or response times, The Daily Wire previously reported.

“There is little evidence that any of the recent cuts to NOAA/NWS negatively impacted services for this event, regardless of what may be being said on social media,” said Alan Gerard, a former director of the Analysis and Understanding Branch in the National Severe Storms Laboratory at NOAA.

Moskowitz still called for an investigation into Noem’s “‘cost-control’ policy.”

“As a result, this policy stripped FEMA of its ability to act in real time and delayed every major aspect of the response,” Moskowitz said in his letter.

During a congressional hearing on FEMA in November 2024, Moskowitz said the DHS was “too big” and recommended the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut down the agency.

Both CNN and Moskowitz ignored FEMA’s long history of inefficient and inadequate disaster response, including most recently under former President Joe Biden

After Hurricane Milton devastated the South in September 2024, The Daily Wire exposed a FEMA supervisor who told workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as they canvassed Florida to identify residents who could qualify for federal aid.

The supervisor, Marn’i Washington, was fired after The Daily Wire broke the story.

In a later interview with Roland Martin, Washington said it was not an “isolated” incident.

“FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation, so this is not isolated,” Washington said. “This is a colossal event of avoidance not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas.”

In March, FEMA fired three more employees as part of an agency investigation into Washington’s guidance.

The scandal was part of a pattern of FEMA mismanagement throughout both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, which occurred during Biden’s administration.

The Daily Wire visited Roan Mountain, a town in eastern Tennessee, and was told it took almost two weeks after the hurricane for a FEMA worker to deliver forms residents could use to apply for aid.

Amid hurricane disaster cleanup efforts, Biden Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas came under fire for saying FEMA “[did] not have the funds to make it through the [hurricane] season.”

The criticism came as FEMA was in the spotlight for spending hundreds of millions of dollars to house illegal immigrants.

As a result of those problems with the agency, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January establishing a FEMA review council.

The council’s goal is to return power to state-level emergency managers.

In a Homeland Security Committee meeting, Noem said the council wants to empower states.

“We know that not every single state is prepared today to take over their emergency operations, that’s why the president has been clear that he wants to empower states, give them the opportunity to build out their response, to also sign [Memorandums of Understanding] with surrounding states, and other resources they can use to best serve their people,” Noem said. “He just doesn’t believe that FEMA has been successful in being there in a time of crisis for people.”

During her confirmation hearing in January, Noem said there would be no discrimination in disaster relief distribution.

“Under President Trump’s administration, disaster and emergency relief will not be handed out with political bias,” Noem said. “Every American will be responded to and treated equally.”

FEMA has also been criticized for spending money on illegal immigrants instead of disaster relief. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency said it discovered millions of FEMA dollars spent on housing illegal immigrants in “luxury” New York City hotels in February.

“That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals!” Musk said on X. “A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds.”

As of March 2025, many North Carolina residents were still waiting for aid from FEMA, according to PBS.

All of these issues within the agency have been discovered over the past year. But FEMA’s problems go back decades.

“Many times you’ve seen over the years where the federal government has not shown up when they were expected to, and then even after a crisis was over, had committed to being there to help people restructure and to rebuild, and never followed through on it,” Noem said.

The secretary said FEMA is still processing decades-old claims.

“We still have claims outstanding in FEMA from Hurricane Katrina,” Noem said. “Wildfire claims from out West that are 10 years old, where people said, ‘We have this claim, this loss. FEMA committed to pay it and still has not followed through on it.’”

A bipartisan House committee investigated the federal government’s preparedness for and response to Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans in 2005. Its findings, published in a report titled “A Failure of Initiative,” found that FEMA was neither trained nor prepared to deal with a crisis on the scale of Katrina.

The report cited disorganization, a lack of preparedness, and staffing shortages as reasons for FEMA’s poor response to the hurricane.

“For years emergency management professionals have been warning that FEMA’s preparedness has eroded,” the report said. “Many believe this erosion is a result of the separation of the preparedness function from FEMA, the drain of long-term professional staff along with their institutional knowledge and expertise, and the inadequate readiness of FEMA’s national emergency response teams.”

FEMA was also criticized over its handling of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, when delays in federal aid led a local emergency management director to demand, “Where the h*** is the cavalry on this one?”

Trump has supported moving the responsibility for disaster relief to the states, with the federal government funding a percentage of the response.

“I think, frankly, FEMA is not good,” Trump said in January during a visit to Hurricane Helene victims in North Carolina. “I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to … use your state to fix it and not waste time.”

Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.

BONDI OR BONGINO: Bongino Won’t Remain At FBI If Bondi Keeps Job, Source Says

Dan Bongino, the Deputy Director of the FBI, is threatening to leave the bureau if Attorney General Pam Bondi remains on the job, a source close to Bongino tells The Daily Wire.

Bongino is reportedly furious with Attorney General Pam Bondi over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which has led many to believe he could walk away from the job that he took in February. The source close to Bongino said that he’s effectively issued an ultimatum, saying he won’t work alongside Bondi.

Bongino left a lucrative career in broadcasting to take the job in the Trump administration. He was not present at the FBI on Friday, after a reported spat with the attorney general earlier this week over the Epstein situation.

BREAKING: Source close to Dan Bongino tells me it’s either him or Pam Bondi, and that he won’t stay at FBI if she stays at DOJ.

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) July 11, 2025

The rift between Bongino and Bondi intensified on Wednesday, days after the Department of Justice announced there was no evidence to prove that child rapist Jeffrey Epstein had a client list, had blackmailed powerful people, or had been murdered. Bondi had promised to reveal major details in the case five months ago, when there were no massive revelations to bring forward.

The deputy FBI director, who raised questions about Epstein’s death before he was in the Trump administration, said in May that his review of the file and hours of video recording from Epstein’s jail proved that the child abuser committed suicide. FBI Director Kash Patel also said that the evidence the bureau has reviewed shows that Epstein was not murdered.

A source close to the Justice Department told The Daily Wire that Patel also wants Bondi gone, and that he would consider departing alongside Bongino. The source also said that Patel wants Bondi to unseal more documents.

MORE: Source close to DOJ says Kash Patel also wants Pam Bondi gone, and that he’d consider leaving if Bongino leaves. Also that there are more frustrations with other documents Bondi hasn’t released. https://t.co/e1WYXHxdRN

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) July 11, 2025

Now, Bongino is considering sending in his resignation over the fallout with Bondi. While it remains unclear if Bongino will step down, his normally active official social media account has been quiet since Wednesday, when his frustration with Bondi reportedly boiled over.

One source close to Bongino predicted to Axios, “He ain’t coming back.” Trump administration officials, however, are saying that Bongino remains on the job.

Bondi was criticized after stating in February that she had Epstein’s client list on her desk and then walking that statement back earlier this week when the DOJ revealed that it did not find evidence that a client list exists. The DOJ and FBI were also criticized after releasing over 10 hours of video footage from the hallway attached to Epstein’s jail cell when people noticed that there was one minute of footage missing from the tape.

“In February, I did an interview on Fox, and it’s been getting a lot of attention because … I was asked a question about the ‘client list’ and my response was, ‘It’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed, meaning the file, along with the JFK, MLK files as well,” Bondi said during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. “That’s what I meant by that.”

During that same Cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump blasted a reporter for asking Bondi about the Epstein case.

“That is unbelievable. … I mean I can’t believe you’re asking a question on Epstein at a time like this when we’re having some of the greatest success and also tragedy with what happened in Texas,” Trump said. “It just seems like a desecration.”

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