Embattled FEMA chief facing possible criminal investigation
William “Brock” Long, the top official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is facing a potential criminal probe related to his use of government vehicles, after an internal investigation into his travel was referred to U.S. attorneys for prosecution, according to administration officials and others familiar with the matter.
The development intensifies pressure on Long to step down and comes as he leads FEMA’s response to Hurricane Florence.
Long has been under scrutiny by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General for using the vehicles to travel between Washington and his home in Hickory, N.C., where his wife and children live.
Long’s predicament has put the White House in an awkward position, according to one administration official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a possible criminal matter. Trump has been pleased with Long’s performance at FEMA, and officials are worried about the potential fallout of removing him while large parts of North and South Carolina remain underwater from Florence. Long arrived in North Carolina on Monday night and intends to survey damaged areas with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday. The storm has left at least 32 dead.
One person familiar with the probe said the Justice Department must now determine if Long’s trips warrant criminal charges. He has said he did nothing unethical and remains committed to managing the hurricane response.
“I am not focused on this investigation,” he said in a statement Monday. “I am fully focused on those impacted by Hurricane Florence.”
Long’s referral to federal prosecutors was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
DHS officials directed inquiries to the inspector general’s office, which did not respond, and to the Department of Justice, which declined to comment.
The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., sent Long a letter Monday seeking documents related to his use of federal vehicles.
An official with knowledge of the investigation said: “This is highly unusual especially when you compare it to others in the Trump administration. They didn’t do this with Tom Price or Scott Pruitt. Why is it happening with the head of FEMA in the middle of a storm?”
Price, Trump’s former secretary of Health and Human Services, used taxpayer money to fly on private jets. Pruitt, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, flew first class, tasked staffers with finding his wife a job and installed a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in his office. Both were forced to resign but neither has faced charges.