DHS and Elon Musk Made False Statements to “Justify” Firing Former FEMA CFO
August 18, 2026
New court filing reveals coordinated smear campaign in wake of illegal termination
WASHINGTON, D.C.—In a revelatory new development in her unlawful termination lawsuit against the Trump administration, former FEMA Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans filed proposed findings of fact today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The proposed findings present facts that prove officials at the Department of Homeland Security and Elon Musk, in his role of senior advisor to Trump and head of DOGE, made knowingly false public statements to justify Comans’ termination in February 2025.
Comans, who served in the federal government for over 20 years with a spotless performance record, was abruptly fired without cause after Musk publicly targeted FEMA disaster fund spending. The evidence in the filing demonstrates that the funds Comans was publicly accused of mishandling were, in fact, dispersed as approved by DHS leadership in internal communications.
On Jan. 30, 2025, the DHS general counsel sent an e-mail to FEMA’s Chief Counsel stating that, “[m]oney for state/locals should keep flowing to state and local governments.” After that direct guidance was issued by DHS, three payments were approved by FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate. None of the payments required Comans’s review or approval.
“The evidence described today leaves no ambiguity and the truth is now on the record,” said Craig Becker, managing counsel at Democracy Defenders Fund. “This represents the knowingly false vilification of a dedicated public servant in the service of the Trump Administration’s vicious attack on both federal employees and immigrants. The statements of DHS leaders and Elon Musk regarding Mary Comans were not mistakes, they were a deliberate, coordinated effort to smear a dedicated public servant.”
This filing comes after the recent ruling by Judge Michael Nachmanoff, who ordered a name-clearing hearing before a magistrate judge, after finding that Comans was terminated in violation of her constitutional right to due process. The filing systematically dismantles the false claims that Comans misused funds, claims that were widely amplified by Musk on social media and by DHS communications that labeled career public servants “deep state activists.”
The upcoming name-clearing hearing, ordered by the court last month, will be the next step in seeking to remedy the full extent of harm done to Comans’ reputation.
Democracy Defenders Fund continues to represent Comans alongside Mark S. Zaid, P.C.; Burakiewicz & DePriest, PLLC; Lowell & Associates, PLLC; Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder PC; and Patriots Law Group.
Read the full statement here.
Background
Mary Comans joined the Department of Homeland Security in 2004, inspired to serve after the September 11 attacks, and rose to become FEMA’s chief financial officer in 2017, compiling more than 20 years of federal service, a spotless disciplinary record, and “Achieved Excellence” ratings in every year she served in the Senior Executive Service.
On Feb. 11, 2025, she was abruptly fired without cause. The termination came one day after Elon Musk made slanderous, false claims that FEMA was responsible for unlawfully distributing millions in FEMA disaster funds that had paid for “luxury hotels” for migrants. DHS announced it was firing Comans and three colleagues for “circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants,” branding them “deep state activists.” Comans states that her office did exactly what Trump appointees at DHS and DOGE directed her to do.
Her termination memo cited only “Article II of the United States Constitution, at the direction of the President,” with no claim of cause and she was accorded no opportunity to refute the charges against her.
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