r/law • u/BugOperator • 14h ago
Legal News Judge rules Elon Musk, Kristi Noem spread false info to fire FEMA official
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/10/14/fema-fired-mary-comans-false-info-elon-musk-kristi-noem/92247275007/629
u/BugOperator 14h ago
A federal judge ruled that top Trump administration officials spread "entirely false information" to justify firing a former top official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of “outrageous government conduct."
Mary Comans was fired as FEMA’s chief financial officer on Feb. 11, 2025, for allegedly approving millions in hotel rooms for undocumented immigrants. But U.S. District Judge William Fitzpatrick in Virginia found the spending was approved by others and that officials such as Elon Musk, a former presidential adviser who headed the Department of Government Efficiency, and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, were “knowingly spreading false information about her.”
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u/CheezyGoodness55 14h ago
Any consequences for Noem and Musk?
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u/BugOperator 13h ago
Criminally? Not a chance. Civilly? Maybe - but they’d both likely drag out litigation to the point where the fired employee no longer has the money to continue paying an attorney to pursue it.
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u/CheezyGoodness55 13h ago
Agreed. Obviously anything involving lengthy and expensive litigation is an easy win for someone like Musk. Just a waiting game.
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u/forsythia_rising 4h ago
How can you even go up against a billionaire legally? It would bankrupt a normal person. We need to tax these billionaires (trillionaire in Musk’s case) more heavily. They are above reproach in current model,
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u/LetterheadFun1824 14h ago
If you’re looking for justice, you’ve come to the wrong country.
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u/CheezyGoodness55 14h ago
Right, the US doesn’t have a justice system, it has a legal system. As pertains to this subreddit, I try to err on the side of hoping that a real person with an actual legal background is participating and can offer some tiny glimmer that there maybe legal consequences for the many grievous activities we read about here.
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u/curtmahgurt 11h ago
And people wonder why cancel culture is a thing. If the system isn’t working, people will find their own way to hold others accountable. I’m not defending vigilantism, just saying it’s a natural consequence of an unfair system.
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u/milo7even2 7h ago
Yep. The fundamental purpose of a functioning legal system is to give people an avenue to address grievances and deal with trouble makers, instead of resorting to vigilantism and revolt.
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u/Neat-Beautiful-5505 14h ago
If the person finds a law they broke in state law, they can pursue defamation suit. Otherwise expect a blanket pardon.
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u/RavRddt 14h ago
Isn’t defamation a civil matter, not covered by pardon powers?
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u/Neat-Beautiful-5505 14h ago
Correct, good point. I’m NAL if you can’t tell…but I play one on the internet
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u/Feeling_Inside_1020 13h ago
IANAL, i'm also not a lawyer too.
What's your expertise in bird law? I might could find you a job.
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u/Serious-Wish4868 14h ago
has there been any consequences for trump raping 12 year old girls yet? NO! this government does follow the rule of law ... wo why would there be any consequences?
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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 14h ago
Get Out of Jail Free cards for all conservative Republicans is the best we can do.
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u/_allycat 11h ago
I'm expecting no consequences and taxpayer money goes to a payout for the person fired.
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u/destroythenseek 14h ago
Everything they touch should just immediately become a defamation of the country
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u/BIGpoppaPUMP42069 14h ago
so were funds approved for illegal immigrants?
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u/UnusualLavishness324 14h ago
That’s a congressional issue if it was. The issue at hand is one of corrupt government officials defrauding the public
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u/BIGpoppaPUMP42069 14h ago
but were funds approved or not, also insane amount of downvotes I get for a simple question
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u/AntibodyEnjoyer 14h ago
Because your simple question is both obviously disingenuous and completely irrelevant to the topic.
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u/GeoisGeo 14h ago
You act like if they were approved that's just some sort of one side issue and the only issue. Does it not concern you that your governemnt officials use lies to fire people they dont like? Or does yelling immigration just give republicans a broad stroke?
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u/BIGpoppaPUMP42069 14h ago
again, im asking a very simple question to start the discussion, were funds approved for illegal immigrants?
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u/GeoisGeo 14h ago
And if they were does that change the conversation at hand here? Explain.
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u/BIGpoppaPUMP42069 13h ago
ill explain when you answer the question
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u/GeoisGeo 13h ago
Yes, they were given legally approved funds for existing programs. Now what?
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u/that_star_wars_guy 11h ago
They are never going to answer your question. That is not their purpose here.
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u/Baron_Furball 3h ago
You got your answer 7 hours ago, pal.
Where's YOUR explanation? Or was that just a bunch of lies you were shouting before the server you live in was bombed?
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u/AntibodyEnjoyer 13h ago
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u/BIGpoppaPUMP42069 12h ago
im not asking for evidence, im asking a yes or no question which is pertinent to this case I feel
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u/AntibodyEnjoyer 12h ago
The answer to your question is that it doesn’t matter whether funds were approved or not. It’s irrelevant to the fact that Musk and Noem knowingly lied about events that led to someone being fired.
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u/Lemp_Triscuit11 14h ago
I think most people here hope you're not this dumb and are just trolling. I'm exactly the opposite lol
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u/scubascratch 14h ago
Not by Mary Comans. CFOs don’t approve individual payments.
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u/BIGpoppaPUMP42069 14h ago
now payments are alleged to of totaled around 58 million dollars, can we agree that number is accurate of the payments made for hotels?
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u/scubascratch 14h ago
I would not agree with that at all, no.
If you’re going to rely on tweets of dubious origin by a completely discredited team to drive public policy you deserve all the downvotes you are getting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning
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u/BIGpoppaPUMP42069 14h ago edited 13h ago
I dont care about downvotes, especially when I ask a question regarding a ruling, is this sub for discussion of law or just another anti anything remotely right of center sub? what is the amount of payments you would agree that happened?
edit: lol they deleted their whole conversation, amazing stuff happening here on reddit
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u/scubascratch 13h ago
It’s not my job to research outlandish claims made by you or a discredited group of crooks illegally accessing data they probably didn’t understand.
You’re the one making this claim, it’s your responsibility to back up your claim with credible data. A tweet ain’t that.
It’s pretty clear you are continuing to act in bad faith here trying to redirect the discussion into some other “debate” with dubious claims. I’m not going to be baited into that.
If you want to talk about FEMA spending then start a new post on that in the correct sub with credibly sourced data.
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u/ArchaeoJones 10h ago
No, they didn't delete their whole conversation. We can see them being reasonable and you being a troll who got out from under their bridge.
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u/BIGpoppaPUMP42069 10h ago
oh he blocked me for asking a simple question what a guy
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u/ArchaeoJones 10h ago
Sure, that was the reason. Not that you dodge facts like exercise and gobble up bullshit like it's McDonalds.
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u/Gryjane 11h ago
No, the hotel funds were for asylum seekers who are by definition here legally. Trump et al have been maliciously painting all of them as "illegal aliens" for a wide variety of unsavory reasons but there is not and was not a program that provided housing for people who were here illegally. Regardless, as many others here have stated that is irrelevant to the conversation at hand and I find that government officials maliciously committing defamation and spreading other lies in order to purge hardworking employees and to stoke fear and hate a much bigger problem than any alleged housing of undocumented people even if it did occur.
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u/Asher_Tye 14h ago
Good, now how many billions those two have to pony up for doing so?
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u/Vyntarus 14h ago
I want all these crooks jailed and thier assets seized.
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u/Hesitation-Marx 14h ago
When you look up “expropriation”, Musk’s face should be attached to the definition.
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u/sokuyari99 14h ago
$500 and a stern finger wag. 3 seconds of wagging minimum (4 seconds maximum)
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u/ShortStoryIntros 14h ago
... I'll see your 3 seconds of finger wagging and add a contemptuous side-eye
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u/sokuyari99 14h ago
You’ve overplayed your hand, it’s now $200, 1 second of finger wag and the state will reimburse them $1000 for the $200 in fines they’ve paid for some reason
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u/notsure500 13h ago
Would billions matter to Elon in the slightest? They need actual consequences (i know it wont actually happen) like us regular folks
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u/IndividualTension887 12h ago
You mean that the taxpayers will fund... They need to be in prison or worse for this shit...
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u/kaiiizen 14h ago
It should be assumed that anything said by anyone associated with this adminstration is done so with malicious intent. They are all bad faith actors who lie, distort, and cheat.
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u/GrannyFlash7373 14h ago
But........there will be NO ACCOUNTABILITY for those two COKE suckers, will there?????
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u/Lower_Arugula5346 14h ago
hey but they got that guy who says he was kidnapped by aliens as the head of fema now so whats the problem
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u/CheezyGoodness55 14h ago
This guy: “FEMA official who claimed he teleported to Waffle House beams out of agency”
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u/Legion_Etrangere 8h ago
Who is that? Do you have a source?
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u/sweatboxy 14h ago
This is our government under the Republicans and half the voters support this kind of behavior. It’s why I don’t trust anyone who calls themselves Republican.
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u/PopBulky7023 5h ago
I mean, does it matter? They passed unitary executive. They can fire anyone for any or no reason.
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