Jeez.
Things aren't going so well in the 'DONALD TRUMP CAN'T DO THAT!' category, are they?
Three weeks ago, give or take a couple of days, the newly hatched and hungry raptors known as the DOGE boys were trotting in FEMA's direction, and everyone who was a holdover in that bureau was breaking out in a cold sweat.
And for good reason.
It didn't take the little sharp-eyed, nimble-fingered programming geniuses to find a huge check that had just flown out the door to escape being nixed by the incoming Trump team and under the very nose of the temporary (and brand-new) FEMA director, former Navy SEAL Cameron Hamilton.
And by huge, I mean YUGE.
The @DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 10, 2025
Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order.
That money is meant for American disaster relief…
...That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals!
A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds.
It turns out the payment was a 'regular' disbursement that had been going to New York City to pay for the Roosevelt Hotel and other illegal-related perks for months. Even though Trump had ordered a freeze on every payment until they could ve scrutinized and approved by his administration from just about the second after he was inaugurated, a couple of FEMA employees took it upon themselves to release the funds anyway.
They figured, what the hell - nobody was looking nor any the wiser.
...So I thought I'd better hold tight until it all shook out in case it turned out to be a regular thing that just looked bad.
It turns out that it was a regular thing that was bad. There's a difference.
It seems that some FEMA employees took advantage of the new head guy's unfamiliarity with his department to slide some cashola out the door without asking for a blessing, figuring they could rely on the 'it's already on the books' excuse.
They should have known that would be the wrong answer in this administration.
And it cost them their jobs the second Kristi Noem, head of Homeland Security and FEMA's overlord, found out who done it.
...Heads rolled this morning, and one of them was a big one.
The Department of Homeland Security told Fox News that "four employees are being fired today for circumventing leadership and unilaterally making the egregious payment for hotels for migrants in New York City."
In the meantime, the administration pulled the money back - and then some - as Eric Adams fell into a swoon over it. It wound upon being $80M instead of the initially reported $59M.
Helluva hit for the city.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has clawed back more than $80 million from New York City, officials said Wednesday, escalating a dispute between the Trump administration and the nation’s largest city over money for sheltering migrants.
The move came as a federal judge said he wouldn’t stop FEMA from reclaiming the funds.
Gone is a $59 million grant that the administration challenged earlier in the week and another award for $21.5 million, City Comptroller Brad Lander said. The money was discovered to be missing overnight, and Lander said no one in his office had been aware that the federal government had access to the city’s bank account.
Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, said city officials had contacted the White House about getting back the money, are seeking an emergency meeting with FEMA and exploring legal options. Adams said he would discuss the matter with President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, when they meet in New York on Thursday.
Upset their checkbook something fierce, according to the comptroller.
NEW: NYC comptroller Brad Lander whines after Elon Musk took back $80 million that the city was going to use on illegal immigrants, says the money just disappeared from their accounts.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 13, 2025
Great!
The Trump admin issued a clawback after FEMA officials sent tens of millions of… pic.twitter.com/GWKj9kkbgd
...Great!
The Trump admin issued a clawback after FEMA officials sent tens of millions of dollars to the city for illegal immigrants.
"This is highway robbery. This is the federal government having already allocated, authorized, awarded, invoiced, and paid $80M to the city of New York, and then Elon Musk with no legal authority seizing it back."
Always with the 'Elon.'
Mayor Adams had himself a real case of 'But you can't DO THAT!'
Knowing he would also have a New York judge, which have not proven to be Trump friendly, the city filed a lawsuit a week later to try to get whatever back they could.
And NYC sued everyone in the administration they could think of.
New York City has filed a lawsuit against the federal government and President Trump to reclaim $80 million for migrant expenses that the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently clawed back.
The federal lawsuit, filed Friday in the Southern District of New York, names the president as well as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem among the defendants. The suit alleged that FEMA removed the money from New York City’s central treasury account on Feb. 11—seven days after it was received—and after its disbursement had been approved.
“FEMA did not provide any advance notice to the city of the money grab,” the lawsuit said. “In fact, FEMA does not appear to have followed any administrative process at all.”
Mayor Eric Adams’s administration argued in the suit that FEMA had abused its authority to implement congressionally approved and funded programs.
“The city seeks to recoup the funds and ensure the federal government does not, again, improperly withdraw disbursed funds or hold future funds that the city is entitled to receive,” the administration said. The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the meantime, the city still needed the money, so they petitioned the court for a temporary restraining order to force the Trump administration to give it all back until the court case was settled.
HEH (as a certain professor often says)
The judge wasn't following their logic either, and today she refused to play along.
A federal judge blocked New York City’s request for President Donald Trump's administration to return $80 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds allocated for migrant shelters and services.
Judge Jennifer Rearden, from the Manhattan bench on Wednesday, refused to issue New York City a temporary restraining order to claw back the funds because the city did not prove it would suffer irreparable harm without the money.
"We’re disappointed the court did not grant the emergency relief we were seeking while the case continued, and we are evaluating next steps," a New York City Law Department spokesperson told Fox News.
The City of New York filed the lawsuit on Feb. 21 against Trump, FEMA, the Treasury Department and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), arguing the $80 million was already approved and paid out by FEMA.
Alliterative liberal heads are exploding in New York.
...NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, a mayoral candidate vying for Adams’ seat, said the Trump administration "stole" the funds.
"Let’s be clear: Donald Trump and his loser lackies—Elon Musk and Kristi Noem—acted illegally when they stole $80 million from New York City’s bank account. Seizing our Congressionally-authorized, FEMA-approved money was nothing more than attempted retribution against immigrants seeking asylum, many of them sent here on buses by Governor Abbott from Texas. Like all of Trump’s illegal efforts to freeze and seize Congressionally-authorized funds, this action harmed taxpayers and working families and would force the City to cut services if not reversed," Lander said in a statement following the ruling on Wednesday.
It's honestly baffling but gratifying that a NYC judge played it so straight with anything Trump-related...
...U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rearden determined that the city had not met the legal threshold required for a temporary restraining order, which would have halted President Donald Trump‘s effort to have the federal government recover the funds.
“In sum, the city has identified no irreparable harm warranting the extraordinary relief it seeks,” Rearden said, according to the New York Daily News.
...and that the city's cries of impending doom might be the littlest bit exaggerated for effect.
How refreshing!
Not a bad week so far, eh?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member