FEMA’s top lawyer placed on leave after less than one week in role

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SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM (3/17)

Joshua Stanton had served as Acting Chief Counsel at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for less than one week when he was placed on administrative leave Wednesday and reportedly escorted out of the building. Why?

According to people at FEMA privy to the details of Stanton’s dismissal—which was first reported by me via Bluesky Wednesday afternoon—Stanton was asked sometime this week to write a memo stating that the mid-February seizure of $80 million from the city of New York meant for migrant shelters had legal justification; this was despite the fact that it almost certainly did not. The money that was taken back was lawfully obligated by FEMA pursuant to congressionally allocated funds. Stanton reportedly refused to write such a memo, The Handbasket has learned, and then he was put on leave. It’s not clear at this point if the refusal to write the memo is the reason he was placed on leave.

There’s speculation among FEMA staffers that this move is connected to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in which former FEMA Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans is suing the agency, saying they, “unlawfully terminated from her position as a member of the Senior Executive Service (‘SES’) without cause or the due process required by law and the Constitution.” Comans was one of four FEMA employees fired in mid-February in the aftermath of the conservative uproar over FEMA funds being used to help house thousands of migrants in hotels in New York—$59 million of which she authorized. 

In posts from America’s Chief Executive Elon Musk and a slew of right wing commentators, they claimed these FEMA funds appropriated last year by President Biden as part of a grant from the Shelter and Services Program were being used to pay “luxury” hotel rates at the non-luxury Roosevelt Hotel. This was completely unfounded and untrue, with rooms costing $152 per night. But that didn’t stop them from pushing the narrative.

In a February 12th post on X, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem posted a potpourri of conservative conspiracy theories in celebration of stealing funds from migrant shelters. 

The legality of the seizure—or “impoundment,” as it’s called—has been on shaky ground since day one. NYC Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander called it “highway robbery” carried out by Musk specifically. And now that Comens is suing because of her termination in connection to those impounded funds, it appears FEMA realized it needs a solid legal basis for its actions. That’s where it seems they’d hoped Stanton would come in. 

I reached Stanton by phone on Wednesday afternoon and he said “no comment” with regard to being placed on administrative leave or any of the circumstances surrounding it. When I learned about his alleged refusal to write the memo, I followed up via text message to see if he had a comment on that piece of it. He did not reply.

Before Stanton took over the role, it was occupied by Adrian Sevier who had served the agency since 2000. He was FEMA’s Office of Chief Counsel's longest serving chief. Sevier announced his retirement last week.

I attempted to connect with Sevier via LinkedIn but have so far been unsuccessful. On his last day, along with several others departing the agency, FEMA held a “clap out”, The New York Times reported. “FEMA staff members are encouraged to gather in the lobby of the Washington headquarters on Friday afternoon and applaud as their colleagues leave the building,” an email prior to the event read.

Some FEMA staffers were given a heads up that media would be present at the spectacle, which read more as a cynical celebration of the Trump administration’s efforts to deplete the agency rather than honoring career civil servants. While Sevier’s resignation was voluntary, as far as I can tell, Stanton’s immediate succession and then dismissal suggests that perhaps Sevier, too, refused to write the memo justifying the impoundment of the NYC funds.

As the number of lawsuits and wrongful terminations pile up, we’re already seeing how many threads intertwine and expose a larger plan to undermine the efficacy of the federal government.

“Nevertheless, to protect all rights and remedies that are or should normally be available to Ms. Comans, she is simultaneously filing a complaint with the Merit System Protection Board to specifically address her termination and due process claims,” Comans’ lawsuit reads. “Importantly, President Trump’s administration has already sought to affect the availability of remedial action by the MSPB by terminating the Chairwoman of the Board, although that action is currently the subject of separate litigation.”

Here Comans’ lawyers refer to Cathy Harris of MSPB who received a letter of termination February 10th—just one day before Comans’ dismissal. Harris is part of a three-person board that serves as one major avenue for federal employees to appeal job suspensions and terminations. In order to function, the board requires a quorum of three people; with the removal of Harris, and the impending retirement of Raymond Limon (which was confirmed on February 28th), the Trump administration knew the board would lack sufficient members to function. On Tuesday a DC District judge found Harris’ attempted termination was “unlawful” and granted a permanent injunction from her being fired. The board can continue to function—for now.

A culture of fear has paralyzed FEMA, perhaps even more so than other federal agencies. Random physical screenings have reportedly increased at headquarters. Staffers have received strict warnings not to talk to the press, and my conversations with a number of them felt particularly tense.

That may have to do with the fact that President Trump has openly threatened that he would recommend they “go away”. Or that the agency is run by Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL and Trump loyalist who very publicly criticized the agency shortly before being named Senior Official Performing the Duties of FEMA Administrator (not, to be clear, Acting Administrator.) 

Hamilton, “has embraced false Republican narratives that FEMA ‘depleted’ its disaster aid by helping migrants and blocked supplies to North Carolina after Hurricane Helene,” Politico reported last month. His X account is a hodgepodge of quotes from the bible, America First propaganda, and a celebration of Trump’s major cuts to the federal government.

As we’ve seen at agencies like the Social Security Administration, prolific posters who loudly cheerlead the administration get rewarded. And those who refuse to fall in line get the boot.

“FEMA never asked to get roped into housing migrants just like they didn’t ask to get roped into handling Covid,” a FEMA staffer told me. “Trump and Biden (and Congress) made those decisions for them. It is not a perfect agency by any means, but they step up when they are ordered to do so with incredibly steep learning curves and insanely high stakes.”

The staffer added that FEMA has, “become the whipping post for a lot of anger that should be directed at the eunuchs in Congress incapable of legislating any meaningful change (except for the bi-partisan immigration bill Trump tanked to serve his own purposes) because obstruction is preferable over compromise.”

UPDATE (3/17)

Stanton’s job has been reinstated, per a copy of an email shared with me that was sent out to FEMA staff on Friday night.

“I'm very excited to share that next week, Josh Stanton will return to his role as DCC for General Law!” wrote Acting Chief Counsel Colt Hagmaier. “We are fortunate to have so many great leaders in OCC that truly function as a team - team that I am grateful to now be a part of again.”

The email did not provide a rationale for Stanton’s reinstatement, and FEMA has still not publicly shared a rationale for him being removed from his role in the first place.