Trump plans to tour Texas flood damage as the scope of the disaster tests his pledge to shutter FEMA
By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON AP As President Donald Trump heads to Texas on Friday for a firsthand look at the devastation caused by catastrophic flooding he has remained conspicuously quiet about his previous promises to do away with the federal agency in charge of tragedy relief The Trump administration isn t backing away from its pledges to shutter the Federal Urgency Management Agency and return catastrophe response to the states But since the July tragedy which has killed at least people the president and his top aides have focused on the once-in-a-lifetime nature of what occurred and the human tragedy involved rather than the government-slashing crusade that s been popular with Trump s core supporters Nancy Epperson right and Brooklyn Pucek visit a memorial for flood casualties along the Guadalupe River on Thursday July in Kerrville Texas AP Photo Gerald Herbert Nobody ever saw a thing like this coming Trump reported NBC News on Thursday adding This is a once-in-every- -year deal He s also suggested he d have been ready to visit Texas within hours but didn t want to burden government still searching for the more than people who are still missing Trump s shift in focus underscores how tragedy can complicate political calculations even though Trump has made slashing the federal workforce and charging ally-turned-antagonist Elon Musk with dramatically shrinking the size of establishment centerpieces of his administration s opening months The president is expected to do an aerial tour of particular of the hard-hit areas The White House also says he ll visit the state crisis operations center to meet with first responders and relatives of flood casualties Trump will also get a briefing from bureaucrats Republican Gov Greg Abbott Sen John Cornyn and Sen Ted Cruz are joining the visit with the GOP senators expected to fly to their state with Trump aboard Air Force One It s relatively common for presidents visiting catastrophe sites to tour the damage by air a move that can ease the logistical burdens on government on the ground Trump s predecessor President Joe Biden observed the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina and Hurricane Milton in Florida last fall by air before meeting with mishap response representatives and casualties on the ground Trump though has also used past catastrophe response efforts to launch political attacks While still a candidate trying to win back the presidency Trump made his own visit to North Carolina after Helene last year and accused the Biden administration of blocking mishap aid to casualties in Republican-heavy areas Kerrville residents Edgar Rojas second from left and his wife Perla alongside daughters Emily left and Olivia visit a memorial for flood casualties along the Guadalupe River on Thursday July in Kerrville Texas AP Photo Gerald Herbert First lady Melania Trump will accompany the president Friday marking the second time this term that she has joined her husband to tour a natural tragedy site During his first weekend back in the White House Trump again visited North Carolina to scope out Helene damage and toured the aftermath of devastating wildfires in Los Angeles But he also used those trips to sharply criticize the Biden administration and California functionaries Trump has promised repeatedly and as lately as last month to begin phasing out FEMA and bring mishap response management down to the state level During Tuesday s Cabinet meeting Trump didn t mention those plans and instead praised the federal flooding response Turning to Homeland Precaution Secretary Kristi Noem whose department oversees FEMA he declared You had people there as fast as anybody s ever seen Pressed this week on whether the White House will continue to work to shutter FEMA press secretary Karoline Leavitt wouldn t say The president wants to ensure American citizens invariably have what they need during times of need Leavitt explained Whether that assistance comes from states or the federal executive that is a approach discussion that will continue While the focus is on FEMA at the federal level local functionaries have come under mounting scrutiny over how much they were prepared and how hastily they acted But not everyone affected has been quick to point fingers Darrin Potter a Kerr County Texas resident for years who saw ankle-high flooding in his home and reported he knew people killed declared As far as early warnings I m sure they can improve on that But he explained all the talk about evacuating was missing something major The area where a wall of water ripped through was a two-lane road he disclosed If you would have evacuated at in the morning all of those people would have been washed away on this road he reported During the Cabinet meeting Noem described traveling to Texas and seeing heartbreaking scenes including around Camp Mystic the century-old all-girls Christian summer camp where at least people were killed Related Articles The newest way to influence Trump Nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize Head Start will be cut off for immigrants without legal status Trump administration says Years later Trump administration targets key figures in Russia research George Mason University faces review in Trump administration s anti-DEI crackdown Brazil vows retaliatory tariffs against US if Trump follows through on import taxes The parents that were looking for their children and picking up their daughter s stuffed animals out of the mud and finding their daughter s shoe that might be laying in the cabin she announced Noem disclosed that just hugging and comforting people matters a lot and this is a time for all of us in this country to remember that we were created to serve each other But the secretary is also co-chairing a FEMA review council charged with submitting suggestions for how to overhaul the agency in coming months We as a federal cabinet don t manage these disasters The state does Noem described Trump on Tuesday She also referenced the administration s government-reducing efforts saying We re cutting through the paperwork of the old FEMA Streamlining it much like your vision of how FEMA should operate Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington and Nadia Lathan in Ingram Texas contributed to this assessment
