(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Trump administration has removed the acting head of FEMA after he publicly contradicted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s call to abolish the agency.
Acting FEMA Director Cameron Hamilton was fired by Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Troy Edgar and Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski, Politico reported Thursday.
His biography was promptly removed from FEMA’s website and his X account was archived.
Hamilton’s dismissal came after he directly opposed Noem’s remarks defending President Donald Trump’s desire to shut down the scandal-plagued agency.
“I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away,” Trump said in January. Noem echoed the sentiment on Tuesday, telling lawmakers that the agency had failed the American people.
Hamilton defied that message, telling a House Appropriations subcommittee, “I do not believe it is in the best interests of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”
NEW: Today Donald Trump fired Cameron Hamilton, the acting administrator of FEMA, because of this statement he made yesterday at a House hearing: “I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency” pic.twitter.com/XFb8FM8piz
— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) May 9, 2025
The administration had appointed Hamilton to the acting role on Jan. 22, 2025—just two days after Trump returned to office.
Before that, Hamilton had run for the Republican nomination in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, finishing second.
Following his dismissal, the White House tapped David Richardson, a senior DHS official, to serve as FEMA’s interim head, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Effective today, David Richardson is now serving as the Senior Official Performing the duties of the FEMA Administrator,” a DHS spokesperson said in an email.
Richardson had been serving as assistant secretary for DHS’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.
