The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) mismanaged almost $10billion during the Covid pandemic, a government audit has revealed.
The report revealed staggering figures: $1.5 billion for a state’s medical staff, $8.1 billion for ‘questioned costs,’ and an additional $32.8 million for ‘improper payments’.
Following this, President Trump made headlines by firing FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans. This decision came after it was disclosed that the agency had paid an astonishing $59 million to luxury hotels in New York City to accommodate illegal immigrants.
The January audit by the department of Homeland Security focused on FEMA’s handling of the pandemic between January 2020 and 2023.
It uncovered that FEMA mismanaged billions of dollars and ‘failed to follow established requirements when delivering Public Assistance funding’.
Among the expenses unearthed was the allocation of $1.5 billion to a state, not specified in the report, without appropriate scrutiny. This misallocation was criticized as these funds could have been utilized more effectively for other emergency situations.
The report said: ‘These issues occurred due to the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and FEMA not following established requirements when delivering public assistance funding.’
Elon Musk with his son in the Oval Office. Musk has hinted that his team at DOGE could target FEMA next
Medical staff treat a Covid patient in January 2022 (file image). The report revealed that $1.5billion was spent on one state’s medical staff, plus $8.1billion on ‘questioned costs’ and a further $32.8million on ‘improper payment’
The January audit by the department of Homeland Security covers the fiscal years from January 2020 to 2023
It also uncovered $8.1 billion distributed by FEMA which are ‘costs that have yet to be determined allowable’ and identified $32.8million in ‘improper payments’.
The new findings of financial mismanagement comes just days after Elon Musk and his DOGE team found out that FEMA sent payments of $59 million to luxury hotels in New York City to house migrants.
Musk has said that the agency, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), needs take action to get the money back.
It’s unclear if the demand will be met, but if it is, FEMA would be able to recuperate the millions in already-distributed funds.
‘Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order,’ Musk wrote on his X platform on Monday.
He added: ‘That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals!’
In response to the Musk’s findings, FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans lost her job.
‘Effective immediately, FEMA is terminating the employment of four individuals for circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants,’ Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
‘Firings include FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist,’ she noted.
Comans and her team are arguably the most powerful group at FEMA as they control its billions of dollars in funding.
Assistant Secretary McLaughlin said that her boss, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, would continue to take action to make sure Trump’s orders are being followed by her department and the agencies that fall beneath it.
Illegal migrants wait outside the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City as they are sheltered there on federal funding
FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans (pictured) lost her job along with three others involved in disbursement of the funds
‘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,’ McLaughlin said in a statement provided to DailyMail.com.
Musk has hinted that FEMA could be shut down next just one week after the thousands of employees with USAID (United States Agency for International Development) woke up to emails instructing them to stay home because the Washington, D.C. headquarters were shuttered.
Others were shocked to find themselves locked out of their work systems last week – and those overseas were told that travel back to the U.S. would be arranged within 30 days.
FEMA could be next on the chopping block, but it raises concern for those who are worried Americans faced with emergencies and natural disasters will no longer receive much-needed government aid in the future.
The agency falls under the purview of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. The former South Dakota governor said Sunday that if Trump asked her about FEMA, she would recommend that he ‘get rid’ of the agency.
Former President Joe Biden faced a backlash for housing migrants in hotels rather than spending the money on arrest and deportation efforts.
Biden also spent funds on providing other aid to illegal immigrants, including giving them cell phones.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) emerged as next on chopping block for firings and cuts when Elon Musk targeted them on X for going against President Trump’s orders to pause any spending that goes against his executive orders
FEMA was also at the center of controversy last year when it was also excoriated for an overall slow and underwhelming response to the deadly and destructive hurricanes that hit the Eest Coast.
Marn’i Washington was a FEMA supervisor who claims she was fired as a scapegoat because the agency claimed she was independently instructing workers in Florida to avoid surveying streets known to be more supportive of Trump.
Washington told DailyMail.com she has ‘information that proves FEMA is lying’ and that the agency told workers to avoid more ‘hostile’ areas in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton in Florida.
She claims FEMA also told workers to not approach homes with Trump signs in North Carolina.
