Judge rules against Trump’s firing of FEMA CFO 18%

By Molly Parks21%

7/17/2026, 2:22:20 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 7 faulty reasoning types, including Post Hoc (False Cause), Appeal to Emotion, and Quote-first Misdirection, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 24.1% saturation with 104 hits. Analysis detected 294 faulty-reasoning hits from 431 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 32.9% and a BS Rank of 18% (18,140 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 82.90% of the article peer group.

A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration illegally fired former Federal Emergency Management Agency Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans last year when the agency terminated her employment over her approval of grant funding for migrant hotels . 
Comans sued the Trump administration in March 2025, arguing that she was “unlawfully terminated” from her role without due process or the opportunity to “appropriately respond” to her termination. 
On Friday, U.S. 
District Judge Michael S. 
Nachmanoff, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, sided with Comans. 
Nachmanoff said the Supreme Court has set a precedent that “the president does not have plenary power to remove inferior officers” in his ruling, according to Politico . 
Comans’s lawyer in the case, Mark Zaid, celebrated Nachmanoff’s ruling on X, noting that the judge ordered a “name-clearing” hearing for the former FEMA official. 
The judge did not, however, order that Comans be restored to her position or the agency, according to the outlet. 
“Incredible win just now before EDVA in lawsuit against President Trump for former FEMA CFO Mary Comans. 1st case deciding no Article II authority to terminate officers w/o due process,” Zaid posted on X. 
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. 
DHS officials fired Comans from FEMA as part of a sweep of four employees they said were connected to the approval of $59 million in grant money sent to New York City to help cover the costs of housing illegal immigrants in luxury hotels in Manhattan. 
“Effective immediately, FEMA is terminating the employment of four individuals for circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants,” former DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the Washington Examiner at the time. 
“Firings include FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer, two program analysts, and a grant specialist.” 
When Comans filed the lawsuit, she alleged in an interview with CBS News that she was terminated “illegally  for doing exactly what I was directed to do by the Trump political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security and at the DOGE.” 
She said in the interview that after she approved the funds, she saw a social media post from then-Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk ridiculing the payment as a violation of the law, so she reversed the grant payments. 
Comans alleged that despite being assured by management her job was safe, she was fired the next day. 
According to Politico , the format for Comans’s “name-clearing” hearing has not yet been decided. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 2.2%Washington Examiner: 5.3%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.2%Washington Examiner: 0.9%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 3.1%Washington Examiner: 3.2%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.2%Washington Examiner: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.4%Washington Examiner: 0.8%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 2.4%Washington Examiner: 2.1%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 7.1%Washington Examiner: 8.6%Framing Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.7%Washington Examiner: 0.6%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.5%Washington Examiner: 0.6%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 2.3%Washington Examiner: 1.7%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.8%Washington Examiner: 1.8%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 24.1%Molly Parks: 7.1%Washington Examiner: 9.3%Negativity Bias24.1%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 4.1%Washington Examiner: 1.4%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 2.6%Molly Parks: 0.1%Washington Examiner: 1.5%Fundamental Attribution Error2.6%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 3.1%Washington Examiner: 2.2%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.3%Washington Examiner: 1.5%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 2.7%Washington Examiner: 2.3%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.8%Washington Examiner: 0.4%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 1.7%Washington Examiner: 1.7%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.2%Washington Examiner: 0.5%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 1.0%Washington Examiner: 2.3%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.3%Washington Examiner: 1.7%Straw Man0.0%This article: 6.5%Molly Parks: 4.2%Washington Examiner: 4.0%Appeal to Authority6.5%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 1.1%Washington Examiner: 3.0%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.5%Washington Examiner: 1.5%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.2%Washington Examiner: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 2.2%Washington Examiner: 8.9%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 1.6%Washington Examiner: 0.6%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 7.9%Molly Parks: 7.9%Washington Examiner: 6.0%Appeal to Emotion7.9%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 2.3%Washington Examiner: 1.8%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 13.5%Molly Parks: 2.7%Washington Examiner: 3.1%Post Hoc (False Cause)13.5%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.2%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 1.0%Washington Examiner: 0.7%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.5%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 1.6%Washington Examiner: 2.2%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.2%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 1.2%Washington Examiner: 2.1%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.6%Washington Examiner: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.6%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 4.0%Washington Examiner: 2.3%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 7.9%Molly Parks: 2.7%Washington Examiner: 1.7%Quote-first Misdirection7.9%This article: 5.8%Molly Parks: 3.7%Washington Examiner: 11.5%Biased Writer Voice5.8%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 2.8%Washington Examiner: 3.5%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.1%Washington Examiner: 0.4%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 1.8%Washington Examiner: 4.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly Parks: 0.0%Washington Examiner: 0.9%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

431 words analyzed.

Speakers

4speakers47%attributed speech229writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 40 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 3 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 28 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageMark Zaid • 34 words • 100.0% coverageThe Washington Examiner • 14 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 46 words • 0.0% coverageTricia McLaughlin • 40 words • 0.0% coverageTricia McLaughlin • 13 words • 0.0% coverageMary Comans • 43 words • 0.0% coverageMary Comans • 40 words • 0.0% coverageMary Comans • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Mark Zaid

100%flagged-word coverage
34 attributed words17% of attributed speech48% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Quote-first Misdirection+100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%Mark Zaid: 100.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice-10.9 ptsWriter: 10.9%Mark Zaid: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.