The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has submitted a notice of intent to resign.
In his 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.