Possible Trump FEMA Pick Made Millions After Florida Disaster-Response Gig
Over the past two years, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) built a national profile antagonizing Republican lawmakers as they sought to investigate President Joe Biden and his family. Moskowitz could soon go back to his roots — leading a right-wing administration’s disaster relief efforts — though he says he intends to stay in Congress.
According to CNN, Moskowitz is a top contender to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Donald Trump’s second administration. He previously performed a similar role in Florida for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, and promptly cashed in.
Moskowitz has denied reports he could join the Trump administration. “All rumor and conjecture,” he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “I have no plans on leaving Congress.” The lawmaker posted on X Tuesday: “I appreciate the speculation but I am staying in Congress and running for re-election.”
In January 2019, DeSantis announced he had selected Moskowitz to head Florida’s Division of Emergency Management. Moskowitz, then a Democratic state lawmaker, had previously served as an executive at the disaster and environmental recovery firm AshBritt. When he joined the administration, the department was in a precarious position, as the response to Hurricane Michael — a disastrous storm that ravaged northern Florida in October 2018 — was seen as slow and inefficient.
Moskowitz’s takeover of the division brought a renewed vigor to disaster response, one that would shortly be followed by the monumental task of leading Florida’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Florida papers dubbed him the “Master of Disaster,” and upon leaving the DeSantis administration, Moskowitz embarked on a brief — but extremely lucrative — stint as a consultant before running for his seat in the House.
Days after leaving his role, Moskowitz formed a new consulting company called MOD LLC — an apparent reference to his nickname, the “Master of Disaster.” The firm quickly generated over $4 million in income, according to a congressional ethics disclosure filed in 2023. He valued the company as being worth up to $5 million on the disclosure form.
Moskowitz’s consulting clients included Miami-Dade County, Fortifi Financial, Lennar Homes, and Pace Funding Group, according to that disclosure. He did not identify all of his clients in the form, writing: “Certain confidential clients not reported.” Moskowitz’s wife now runs the company, and he is not required to list her income.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, a spokesperson for the congressman writes that “Representative Moskowitz was a consultant during his time in the private sector. He has complied with all congressional ethics requirements.”
The spokesperson adds that Moskowitz “is staying in Congress” and will run for re-election.
“A pre-confirmation ethics review would definitely focus on Moskowitz’s ownership interest in [the firm] to determine whether it could cause conflicts of interest if he serves as head of FEMA,” says Kedric Payne, the vice president, general counsel, and senior director for ethics for the Campaign Legal Center. “Moskowitz reported that before he entered Congress he earned over $4 million from this company, but he now reports that MOD only pays his spouse and he does not report the amount of her income. But the change in who receives the income does not change that the ethics rules apply. The public has a right to know that all public officials are serving the public interest and not their financial interests.”
If Trump were to successfully nominate Moskowitz, the lawmaker would assume the leadership of FEMA at a precarious moment for the disaster response organization. Earlier this year, after Hurricane Helene wrecked large swaths of the southeastern United States, Trump baselessly accused the Biden administration and the agency of abandoning Republican areas affected by the storm and squandering money from FEMA’s disaster relief fund on undocumented migrants.
Under the conservative agenda program Project 2025, FEMA, along with several other major disaster programs, would be gutted and potentially privatized. Moskowitz, for his part, has proposed legislation that would turn FEMA into a Cabinet-level agency that reports directly to the president; the agency is currently housed within the Department of Homeland Security.
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