Congressional investigators ask FEMA head to detail use of government vehicles for personal trips
The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Trey Gowdy, has sent a letter to FEMA requesting documents and records pertaining to administrator Brock Long's use of government vehicles and staff to travel to and from North Carolina.
The request follows a report in Politico last week that the internal watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, was looking into whether Long misused government resources on weekend trips to his hometown in North Carolina.
During a news conference on Hurricane Florence last week, Long said he was aware of the article and would fully cooperate with any investigation by the DHS inspector general.
"I would never intentionally run a program incorrectly. Bottom line is, if we made mistakes on the way a program was run, then we'll work with the OIG to get those corrected. Doing something unethical is not part of my DNA and it's not part of my track record my whole entire career, so we'll work with the OIG," Long told reporters last week.
In his request, Gowdy asked Long to provide information on every time he has used a government vehicle for personal reasons, information on staffers that were with him during those trips, and any communications related to FEMA employees going with him to North Carolina. Gowdy asked for the information by October 1.
