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President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, following massive floods in the region that have taken the lives of more than 120 people.
The Trumps met with local officials and first responders who are navigating the aftermath of flash floods that devastated the Central Texas community, after the Guadalupe River surged more than 22 feet in just a matter of hours.
Speaking at a roundtable with state, local and federal officials in Kerrville, Trump said: “I’ve never seen anything like this. This is a bad one.”
He said he had just visited with the “incredible families” who have been “devastated.”
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Trump thanked the first responders, adding that he and the first lady were there to “express the love and support and anguish of our entire nation.”
“So all across the country, Americans’ hearts are shattered,” he said. “We’re filled with grief and devastation. It’s the loss of life, and unfortunately, they’re still looking.”
“My administration’s doing everything in its power to help Texas,” he added.
He thanked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for his leadership, who in turn thanked the president for the administration’s quick response to the state’s disaster declaration, adding, “We’re going to rebuild this community.”
Dr. Phil McGraw, who was also at the roundtable, spoke about grief and said, “Mr. President, there is a depth of root and caring here like you just can’t believe until you see it.”
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Trump said two things had struck him: the “unity” of Texans and the “competence” of those responding to the disaster.
“Everyone has just pulled together, it’s rare that you see this,” he said.
Trump referred to Camp Mystic, where more than two dozen girls, who the president referred to as “young angels,” were killed in the flood, as a “legendary camp that people would want to go to from all over the country.”
“They were there because they loved God,” he said. “And as we grieve this unthinkable tragedy, we take comfort in the knowledge that God is welcoming those little beautiful girls into his comforting arms in heaven.”
The first lady showed a bracelet she was wearing that she said she received in honor of “all of the little girls that lost their lives” at the camp. “So, we are here to honor them and also to give the support, help.”
Among those who died in the flooding were at least 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp founded nearly 100 years ago for girls. Meanwhile, more than 160 people are missing and unaccounted for in Kerr County, Texas, following the floods, according to officials.
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The White House disclosed Monday that Trump would visit the flood site to witness the devastation.
“I’ll be going down on Friday with the first lady, and we will be taking a trip,” Trump said Tuesday at a Cabinet meeting. “And we don’t want to get in anyone’s way, because, you know, it’s what happens. The president goes, and everyone’s around focused. I don’t want anyone to focus on us, but it’s possible they could have.”
The Trump administration has faced scrutiny from Democrats for its response to the disaster, particularly for a new policy that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem approved in June, before the floods, that requires her to sign off on any department expenses, including disaster-related expenses, that are more than $100,000.
Noem reportedly waited more than 72 hours after the flooding started before she approved the deployment of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Urban Search and Rescue teams, according to CNN.
Meanwhile, Noem dismissed the report’s credibility during a segment on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, claiming the report was “fake news.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees FEMA, told Fox News Digital that the agency has “taken an all-hands-on-deck approach” in responding to the crisis, when asked about the CNN report.
“The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Trump also defended his administration’s response and said at the White House during a Tuesday Cabinet meeting that “you had people there as fast as anybody’s ever seen.”
Still, the disaster creates uncertainty about the future of FEMA, since Trump has called for massive reforms to the agency.
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Trump said in June that he wanted to “wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it back to the state level.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the future of FEMA is an ongoing discussion, when asked whether the flood had prompted Trump to re-evaluate his position on overhauling FEMA.
“The president wants to ensure American citizens always have what they need during times of need,” Leavitt told reporterson Monday. “Whether that assistance comes from states or the federal government, that’s a policy discussion that will continue. And the president has always said he wants states to do as much as they can, if not more.”
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Meanwhile, Noem lauded FEMA’s efforts responding to the disaster during the Cabinet meeting, even as some lawmakers like Rep. Jared Moscowitz, D-Fla., have called for an investigation into reports of a delayed FEMA response.
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“FEMA has been deployed, and we’re cutting through the paperwork of the old FEMA, streamlining it much like your vision of how FEMA should operate,” Noem said. “It’s been a much better response to help these families get through this terrible situation.”
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