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For months, the complaints have rolled in from parts of the country hit by natural disasters: The Federal Emergency Management Agency was moving far too slowly in sending aid to communities ravaged by floods and hurricanes, including in central Texas and North Carolina. Many officials were blaming Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, whose agency oversees FEMA.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 get phone calls back,鈥� Ted Budd, the Republican senator from North Carolina, this month, describing his attempts to reach Noem鈥檚 office. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 get them to initiate the money. It鈥檚 just a quagmire.鈥� The delays were caused in part by a new policy announced by DHS that requires Noem鈥檚 personal sign-off on expenses over $100,000, several news outlets .
But records obtained by ProPublica show how one locality found a way to get FEMA aid more quickly: It asked one of Noem鈥檚 political donors for help.
The records show that Noem quickly expedited more than $11 million of federal money to rebuild a historic pier in Naples, Florida, after she was contacted by a major financial supporter last month. The pier is a tourist attraction in the wealthy Gulf Coast enclave and was badly damaged by Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Frustrated city officials had been laboring for months, without success, to get disaster assistance. But just two weeks after the donor stepped in, they were celebrating their sudden change of fortune. 鈥淲e are now at warp speed with FEMA,鈥� one city official wrote in an email. A FEMA representative wrote: 鈥淧er leadership instruction, pushing project immediately.鈥�
Along with fast-tracking the money, Noem flew to Naples on a government plane to tour the pier herself. She then stayed for the weekend and got dinner with the donor, local cardiologist Sinan Gursoy, at the French restaurant , according to records and an interview with the Naples mayor. This account is based on text messages and emails ProPublica obtained through public records requests.
Noem鈥檚 actions in Naples suggest the injection of political favoritism into an agency tasked with saving lives and rebuilding communities wiped out by disaster. It also heightens concerns about the discretion Noem has given herself by personally handling all six-figure expenses at the agency, consolidating her power over who wins and loses in the pursuit of federal relief dollars, experts said.
Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, said that politics has long been a factor in federal disaster relief 鈥� one study found that swing states are more likely to get federal help, for example. But 鈥淚鈥檝e not heard of anything this egregious 鈥� a donor calling up and saying I need help and getting it,鈥� he said, 鈥渨hile others may be getting denied assistance or otherwise waiting in line for help that may or may not come.鈥�
In a statement, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, 鈥淭his has nothing to do with politics: Secretary Noem also visited Ruidoso, NM鈥� 鈥� where floods killed three people in July 鈥� 鈥渁t the request of a Democrat governor and has been integral in supporting and speeding up their recovery efforts.鈥�
鈥淵our criticizing the Secretary鈥檚 visit to the Pier is bizarre as she works to fix this issue for more than 1 million visitors that used to visit the pier,鈥� McLaughlin added. She did not answer questions about the donor鈥檚 role in expediting the funding or Noem鈥檚 relationship with him. Reached by phone, Gursoy said 鈥済et lost鈥� and hung up. He did not respond to detailed follow up questions.
Noem has been criticized for creating a bottleneck at FEMA. When the floods hit Texas this summer 鈥� ultimately killing over 100 people 鈥� it took days to deploy critical search-and-rescue teams because Noem hadn鈥檛 signed off on them, . Budd, the Republican senator, said this month: 鈥淧retty much everything Helene-related is over $100,000. So they鈥檙e stacking up on her desk waiting for her signature.鈥�
Noem has denied there were delays in the Texas flood response and has defended her expense policy, saying it has of dollars. 鈥淓very day I get up and I think, the American people are paying for this, should they?鈥� she . 鈥淎nd are these dollars doing what the law says they should be doing? I鈥檓 going to make sure that they go there.鈥�
Once a sleepy fishing town, Naples is now home to CEOs and billionaires (a property listed for recently made headlines as the most expensive home in the U.S.). The city is known as an important stop for Republican politicians raising money, and Noem has held multiple fundraisers in the area. suggest she visited Naples at least 10 times during her last four years as South Dakota governor.
Noem鈥檚 top adviser, Corey Lewandowski, also appears to own a home in Naples near the city鈥檚 pier, according to property tax records. Lewandowski is an unpaid staffer at DHS serving as Noem鈥檚 de facto chief of staff. (Media reports have alleged the two are , which they have both denied.) Lewandowski told ProPublica that he was not involved in the pier decision and that he was not in Naples during Noem鈥檚 visit.
For the first seven months of the Trump administration, the pier reconstruction was in bureaucratic purgatory. The city had long been struggling to secure the regulatory approvals it needed to start building, and emails suggest Trump鈥檚 wave of federal layoffs had made the process even slower. 鈥淭hese agencies are undergoing significant reorganizations and staff reductions,鈥� a city official told a frustrated constituent in early August. That 鈥渟ometimes means starting over with new reviewers 鈥� something we鈥檝e faced more than once.鈥�
McLaughlin said 鈥渂oth past FEMA and the City bear responsibility鈥� for the delays. She listed 鈥渟everal failures鈥� since the process started in 2023, including 鈥淔EMA staff changing up鈥� and indecision by the city government.
By this summer, Naples officials were getting desperate. In June, one tried to enlist Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to press FEMA to move ahead. 鈥淲e were told yesterday that Secretary Noem would have to 鈥榩ersonally鈥� approve the Pier project before FEMA funding would be obligated,鈥� the city official wrote to the senator鈥檚 staff. The Naples mayor, Teresa Heitmann, also personally wrote to FEMA. Heitmann said she was 鈥減erplexed鈥� by the delays and begged the agency for guidance.
Heitmann had long been paying expensive Washington consultants to help her city navigate the process. But she was 鈥渇eeling increasingly helpless,鈥� she later said, until she had the idea that would finally put her project on the fast track. On July 18, the mayor emailed a Google search to herself: 鈥淲ho is the head of Homeland security?鈥� She was going to go straight to Noem.
Heitmann determined that her best bet for getting Noem鈥檚 attention was Gursoy. A Naples cardiologist, Gursoy has no obvious experience working with the federal government; much of his online footprint centers on his enthusiasm for pinball. But Gursoy gave Noem at least $25,000 to support her campaign for governor in 2022. That was enough to put him near the top of Noem鈥檚 disclosed donor list. (In South Dakota, campaign contributions remain relatively small.)
On planning documents for the 2024 Republican National Convention obtained by ProPublica, the Florida doctor is listed as an attendee affiliated with the delegation from South Dakota, a state he has no apparent connection to besides his support for Noem. Heitmann told ProPublica that Gursoy introduced her to Noem at a political event at a private home in Naples while Noem was governor.
鈥淗ello it鈥檚 Teresa,鈥� the mayor texted Gursoy in early August. 鈥淚 really need your help.鈥� She explained the tangle of bureaucracy she鈥檇 been contending with. 鈥淔EMA is holding us up,鈥� Heitmann wrote. 鈥淜risti Noem could put some fire under the FEMA employees slacking.鈥�
Gursoy responded: 鈥淥kay. I will get on it.鈥�
The next week, on Aug. 11, the doctor gave Heitmann an update. 鈥淜risti was off for a few days for the first time in a long time, so I left her alone,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 just txted her now.鈥� Within 24 hours, he had exciting news. He told the mayor to expect a call from Noem鈥檚 鈥淔EMA fixer鈥� shortly.
The identity of the 鈥渇ixer鈥� is not clear, but by Aug. 27, Naples officials were seeing a 鈥渇lurry of activity鈥� from Noem鈥檚 agency. That day, a FEMA staffer told the city that 鈥淔EMA is intending to expedite the funding鈥� for the pier. 鈥淪ecretary Noem took immediate action when I reached out to ask for help,鈥� the mayor soon posted on Facebook.
Two days later, Noem flew to Naples. Her schedule listed a 30-minute walk-through at the pier with the mayor, followed by a nail salon appointment and dinner at Bleu Provence, which serves wagyu short ribs and seared foie gras. Noem then stayed through the weekend at the four-star . Heitmann told ProPublica she wasn鈥檛 at the French dinner but Gursoy was. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 ask her to come, but she showed up,鈥� the mayor told the local news. 鈥淚 was very impressed.鈥�
Before she left town, Noem posted about the Naples pier . She was finally getting the project back on track, she said. 鈥淎mericans deserve better than years of red tape and failed disaster responses,鈥� Noem wrote. 鈥淯nder @POTUS Trump, this incompetency ends.鈥�
DHS did not answer questions about whether the government paid for Noem鈥檚 weekend in Naples.
Do you have any information we should know about Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski or DHS? Josh Kaplan can be reached by email at joshua.kaplan@propublica.org and by Signal or WhatsApp at 734-834-9383. Justin Elliott can be reached by email at justin@propublica.org and by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240.
