The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has submitted a notice of intent to resign.
In a resignation letter, David Richardson reportedly said he would step down in the next two weeks. Sources told CNN that Department of Homeland Security officials already had a plan to oust him.
Richardson, a close ally of DHS Secretary Krisi Noem, came under fire after he was publicly silent for a week following floods in Texas that killed more than 130 people. He also told staff in a June meeting that he was unaware that there was a hurricane season in the U.S. DHS official later claimed Richardson had been joking.
“He never should have been there to begin with,” former FEMA administrator Cameron Hamilton, a Trump appointee, told CNN. “The two words I’d use to describe him are unprofessional and overwhelmed.”
FEMA chief of staff Karen Evans was expected to replace Richardson.
