A federal employee who was fired after being accused of discriminating against Trump supporters is blowing the whistle on the agency that gave her the boot, alleging that the discrimination she has been accused of was not an “isolated” incident but occurred agency-wide.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supervisor Marn’i Washington was fired after reportedly telling FEMA employees under her supervision not to offer aid to families and individuals with signs or flags promoting former President Donald Trump, while canvassing Lake Placid, Florida following Hurricane Milton. Now, Washington is claiming that skipping over Trump supporters’ homes was not her own idea and was, in fact, a policy practiced throughout FEMA.

Speaking to former CNN contributor Roland Martin, Washington said, “They all alleged that these actions were made on my own recognizance and from my own political advances.” Instead, she explained, FEMA employees had allegedly encountered “hostility” and “verbal abuse” when approaching houses that had Trump signs or flags. The controversial directive to skip Trump supporters’ houses when offering federal aid was not Washington’s own idea, she said, but recommended by her own FEMA supervisor, Chad Hershey. Washington explained:

“However, if you look at the record, there is what we call a community trend and unfortunately, it just so happened that the political hostility that was encountered by my team — and I was on two different teams during my own deployment — they just so happened to have the Trump campaign signage. FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation; this is not isolated.”

She also claimed that the order to avoid houses with Trump campaign paraphernalia was widespread and occurred across the states of Florida and both North and South Carolina. “This is a colossal event of avoidance not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas,” Washington said. She continued, “Senior leadership will lie to you and say that they do not know, but if you ask the [Disaster Survivor Assistance] crew leads and specialists what they are experiencing in the field … demand for FEMA to give you those incident reports.”

Washington also clarified that not all houses with Trump campaign signage would be skipped, only those in areas where a “community trend” had been observed regarding alleged hostility. She also noted that nobody was denied the opportunity to register for FEMA assistance on the basis of simply being a Trump supporter. “If any of those residents come outside that have the Trump campaign signage and say ‘Hey, I want to register,’ we’ll welcome them into our arms, we will let you register, great, wonderful,” she said. She continued, “But we were not going to subject our people to continue with verbal abuse or hostile encounters.”

Washington was also quick to note that she considers herself “apolitical” and was not a supporter of Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. She also shared that she did not have an “opportunity” to vote in this year’s election because she was so busy with FEMA work. Washington clarified that she works as a FEMA “reservist,” meaning that she has a different full-time job but works for FEMA when the agency is understaffed or overwhelmed. In reference to being fired from her role with FEMA, Washington said that the agency “made me a patsy.”

A FEMA spokesperson previously said that Washington’s “best practices” order to skip homes with Trump signage was “deeply disturbing.” FEMA Administrator Deanna Criswell said, “This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. This was reprehensible.” She continued, “I want to be clear to all of my employees and the American people, this type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA, and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct.”

Both the U.S. House Oversight Committee and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure have summoned Criswell to congressional hearings. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is also investigating claims that FEMA did not respond to calls for aid. “In the wake of troubling reports that emergency aid was not reaching disaster victims [the Committee] recently launched an investigation into FEMA’s preparation, response strategies, and capacity to provide sufficiently prompt relief to victims of Hurricanes Helene and Milton,” reads a press release from the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure announcing the hearing on Tuesday.

It continues, “More recently, additional reports have surfaced that some FEMA officials may have de-prioritized assisting homes displaying Trump for President campaign signs. Subcommittee Members will have the opportunity to raise these issues and others at next week’s hearing.”

The Oversight Committee will be hosting its hearing the same day, with Criswell slated to testify. Committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) previewed the event on social media, “Reports surfaced that a FEMA official instructed relief workers to avoid homes displaying support for President Trump. This may not be an isolated incident at FEMA.” He added, “I look forward to FEMA Administrator Criswell testifying at next week’s … hearing.”

The scandal follows reports that FEMA officials mismanaged responses to Hurricanes Helene and Milton by overspending on programs to house and feed illegal immigrants and depleting funds that should have been used to help U.S. citizens during hurricane season, preventing private citizens from conducting their own rescue and relief operations and even threatening them with arrest, confiscating disaster relief supplies and donations and delivering them to migrant shelters, and misappropriating funds.