"A judge found that Mary Comans unlawfully lost her job at FEMA amid cuts by the U.S. DOGE Service."

"A senior Federal Emergency Management Agency official fired early last year is seeking to clear her name after Elon Musk blamed her for allowing payments to New York City to house immigrants, which she said was approved by a U.S. DOGE Service aide.

In early February last year, Musk posted on X that DOGE, which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency, discovered FEMA sent $59 million to “luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants,” calling the payment unlawful and an act of “gross insubordination.” Musk shared FEMA’s former chief financial officer Mary Comans’s name and photo in a post accusing her of “a criminal action.”

Meryl Kornfield and Brianna Sacks report for the Washington Post August 19, 2026.