The recently removed Chief Financial Officer of FEMA has claimed that her dismissal by Elon Musk and the Trump administration was unjustified, stemming from instructions given to her by a DOGE lieutenant.
Mary Comans was abruptly relieved of her duties at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and publicly labeled as a ‘deep state activist.’
Comans was accused of illegally sending FEMA money to New York City to book luxury hotels for undocumented migrants.
During an interview with CBS regarding her termination, Comans asserted that carrying out directives from the Musk-headed Department Of Government Efficiency led to her losing her position.
‘I was fired illegally by the Trump administration for doing my job, for doing exactly what I was directed to do by the Trump political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security and at the DOGE,’ she claimed.
‘They told me to do these actions, to make these payments, and then they fired me.’
She explained that Musk’s right-hand man at DOGE, Brad Smith, asked her whether FEMA had continued business as usual under the new administration and made it ‘very clear’ that the ‘right thing’ to do would be continuing payments.
So the 21-year FEMA veteran was stunned when on February 10 Musk took to X to write that his department ‘just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.
Mary Comans was unceremoniously dumped from her role at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and publicly accused of being a ‘deep state activist’
Musk’s department has sparked protests as he purges entire federal departments
‘Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order,’ he wrote.
When Comans arrived in the office later that day, she met with her boss, who she alleges was equally as surprised.
‘I told him I was going to put together an after-action report detailing each of the conversations, the dates, the actions that FEMA took to show that we were operating within the guidelines provided to us by the Trump administration,’ Comans said.
‘He thanked me, hugged me and again reassured me that nobody at FEMA would be fired for making these payments.’
The next day, a colleague entered her office to tell her she had been terminated, effective immediately.
She is now suing FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security for unlawful termination, maintaining she was let go ‘without cause or the due process required by law and the Constitution.’
Comans said she began the process of recouping the the offending funds the same day she saw Musk’s tweet.
Her name first began spreading across X, fueled by conservative commentators and rightwing accounts who accused her of defying Trump’s orders.
Elon Musk shared a post about Comans, writing: ‘A criminal action’
Later that same day, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement which Comans claims substantially damaged her reputation.
It read: ‘Effective immediately, FEMA is terminating the employment of four individuals for circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants.
‘Firings include FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist.
‘Under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS will not sit idly and allow deep state activists to undermine the will and safety of the American people.’
Musk shared a post about Comans, writing: ‘A criminal action.’
Comans said the department she dedicated herself to – apolitically across several administrations for 21 years – ‘allowed Mr Musk and others to slander my name.’
‘The department has sat by idly and in some ways they have joined that choir of saying untrue statements about me,’ she said.
Comans said she’s not sure there’s any money in the world that can make up for what she’s been through.
Musk shared a post about Comans, writing: ‘A criminal action’
Comans was accused of illegally sending FEMA money to New York City to book luxury hotels for undocumented migrants
She’s seeking compensation, but above all else, she wants her ‘name cleared’ and, if possible, an opportunity to return to her job.
Through her 21-year career, Comans had never faced any disciplinary action and consistently received ‘achieved excellence’ feedback in her annual reviews.
Her lawsuit states: ‘Since President Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025, an unprecedented number of federal employees with civil service protections, including Ms. Comans (and also the Special Counsel in the Office of Special Counsel, the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, and eighteen Inspector Generals from various federal agencies, to name just a few) have similarly been unlawfully terminated without cause or due process.’
FEMA was in the direct firing line of DOGE upon Trump’s return to the White House.
Noem boasted that a clawback order had allowed the federal government to return the $59million spent to house illegal migrants in full.
These four and five-star hotels were paid by the government to house illegal migrants in direct contradiction with Trump’s orders as he seeks to conduct the largest mass deportation in US history.
‘Secretary Noem has clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels,’ DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told DailyMail.com.
She added: ‘There will not be a single penny spent that goes against the interest and safety of the American people.’
