NEW: Court Documents Confirm FEMA's Unelected "Shadow Administrator" Demanded Final Approval Over the Agency's Own Leader
New depositions and messages submitted in federal lawsuit show contractor Kara Voorhies directed FEMA's chief of staff, required sign-off on agency decisions, and may have violated the Privacy Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bombshell court documents submitted in a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's downsizing of the federal government have confirmed what FEMA insiders, career officials, and bipartisan lawmakers have alleged for months: an unvetted, unconfirmed outside contractor ran the nation's disaster agency for months under President Trump and then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's watch.
The documents, obtained by plaintiffs challenging FEMA staff cuts, include direct messages and sworn depositions that leave no room for interpretation.
In one exchange, Kara Voorhies – a DHS contractor with no emergency management experience – instructs FEMA chief of staff Karen Evans on how to conduct an internal data call about agency contractors, directing the leader of FEMA on the specifics of how to gather the data.
Evans' response? "How do you want the data? On site? Off site? Please provide specifics."
In a separate deposition, Evans herself confirmed that after FEMA leadership made decisions, she and other senior officials went to Voorhies for final approval.
"This is not an adviser relationship. That's an illegal chain of command—one that bypassed the vetting, nomination, and Senate confirmation process that exists precisely to protect Americans from this kind of unaccountable power,” said Sabotaging Our Safety Council Member Tory Gavito. “This is the agency entrusted to respond when your home floods, when wildfires tear through your community, when winter storms knock out power for millions. Its acting leader was taking direction from a contractor who had no disaster experience and was accountable to no one except Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski."
The documents also reveal that Voorhies reacted furiously when reports that FEMA had paused terminations during a major winter storm were made public. FEMA's own acting head was apparently answering to a contractor about what the press was allowed to know.
Now it's Secretary Mullin's turn to answer. Sabotaging Our Safety calls on Secretary Mullin to:
1. Immediately release a full accounting of every decision in which Voorhies had final approval authority, including disaster aid disbursements, grant cancellations, staffing decisions, and contract awards, and publicly assess whether those decisions must be reviewed or reversed.
2. Cooperate fully and transparently with the DHS Inspector General and the bipartisan congressional investigations already underway, and publicly commit to implementing the IG's findings.
3. Address the Privacy Act breaches identified by FEMA's own chief human resources officer by conducting an immediate audit of what personal employee data Voorhies accessed and notifying affected employees.
4. Appoint a permanent, Senate-confirmed FEMA Administrator without delay. FEMA has been without permanent leadership since January 2025, a void that enabled this crisis and continues to put communities at risk.
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