By Brad Brooks and Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) – Florida’s attorney general said on Thursday he had filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency for allegedly discriminating against hurricane victims who supported President-elect Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, FEMA said it fired an employee who advised its survivor assistance team in Florida not to go to homes with yard signs in support of Trump. FEMA said the matter has been referred to the Office of Special Counsel for investigation.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, in a statement this week announcing the employee’s firing, said, “this is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values ​​and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.”

The Florida lawsuit alleges discrimination against Trump supporters occurred in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in Lake Placid, Florida. Helene hit Florida in September, followed a few weeks later by Milton in October.

“Hurricane season is not over, and the federal emergency response agency is embroiled in scandal — caught withholding aid to Florida storm victims who support President Trump,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a written statement. .

The FEMA employee who was fired, Marn’i Washington and FEMA are named as defendants in the Florida lawsuit.

Washington said this week that FEMA is scapegoating it and that it is common practice for agency teams to avoid some places based on past hostile interactions.

FEMA said in an email that it does not comment on pending litigation. The agency did not respond to a request for comment on Washington’s accusations that it is being scapegoated.

Washington told journalist Roland Martin on his YouTube show earlier this week that FEMA claims it acted on its own and based on its own political loyalties.

“However, if you look at the record, there is what we call a community trend,” Washington said. “And unfortunately, it just so happened that the political hostility that my team encountered — and I was on two different teams during this deployment — happened to have Trump campaign markings.”

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Colorado and Kanishka Singh in Washington, DC; Editing by Donna Bryson and Bill Berkrot)