Judge Rebukes DHS for 'Outrageous' False Statements Targeting Former FEMA Official
A judge found government officials made false claims about her role in migrant-housing payments and said she was denied due process in her firing.
- On Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick formally cleared the name of former Federal Emergency Management Agency Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans, concluding a rare court-run name-clearing hearing regarding her abrupt firing.
- Comans was fired on Feb. 11, 2025, after the Department of Homeland Security accused her of "circumventing leadership" to authorize nearly $60 million for New York City migrant hotels, claiming she acted "unilaterally."
- Judge Fitzpatrick found that former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Elon Musk, then head of the Department of Government Efficiency, "engaged in a coordinated public relations campaign" spreading claims that were "objectively and demonstrably false."
- Posting Comans' picture served "no legitimate governmental interest and was little more than state-sanctioned intimidation," Fitzpatrick wrote, while officials knew allegations—including claims she funneled $58 million to migrant hotels—were false.
- This ruling follows a July decision by U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, who ruled Comans was fired without due process, confirming that career civil servants retain legal rights as a shield against Executive Branch actions.
7 Articles
7 Articles
Judge clears name of FEMA official after Trump confidantes lied about her firing
A federal magistrate judge delivered an unusual victory to a fired federal employee Tuesday, officially clearing her name of all the overheated and erroneous allegations Trump officials and confidantes aimed at her.
Judge rebukes DHS for 'outrageous' false statements targeting former FEMA official
A federal judge rebuked the leadership of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for "outrageous" conduct in targeting the former chief financial officer of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after accusing her of wrongly dispersing a grant related to migrant housing. DHS fired Mary Comans over an $80 million grant to New York City...
'Wow!' Court watchers aghast as 'name-clearing hearing' wrecks ex-Trump officials
Court watchers reacted with shock after a federal judge found that former officials in President Donald Trump’s administration knowingly spread false accusations against a fired official at a federal disaster agency.U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick cleared the name of Mary Comans, the forme...
'Untrue': Judge spikes Trump admin's 'state-sanctioned intimidation'
On Tuesday, a federal judge put an end to a smear campaign conducted against former FEMA Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans by officials and allies of President Donald Trump. According to the judge, the affair was "little more than state-sanctioned intimidation."The case dates back to Februrary 202...
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