President Donald Trump was hearing reporters just fine until one of them asked him about federal cuts in the aftermath of the devastating floods in Texas.
Trump spoke to reporters in New Jersey on Sunday after flash floods wreaked havoc in central Texas over the weekend, killing at least 80 people and sending over 40 others missing. Critics were quick to blame the calamitous toll on the administration’s overhaul of the federal government, which included staff cuts at the National Weather Service.
“Democrats are blaming your federal cuts for the deaths over in Texas,” one reporter, who could be heard audibly projecting their voice, asked Trump.
Though the president leaned in to hear better, he decided to wave off the question.
“I can’t hear you,” he said, as he moved on to another reporter.
Asked later on if he had plans to look into whether the cuts at the National Weather Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency left key positions vacant, Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick shook their heads.
“They didn’t,” Trump said. “I’ll tell you: You look at that water situation, that was really the Biden setup. That was not our setup. But I wouldn’t blame Biden for it either; I would just say this is a hundred-year catastrophe, and it’s just so horrible to watch.”
Trump also appeared unsure when asked whether the federal government should hire back any of the meteorologists who were gutted in the administration’s slash-and-burn approach to downsizing.
“I wouldn’t know that. I really wouldn’t. I would think not,” he said. “This was a thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it, nobody saw it. Very talented people are there and they didn’t see it.”
The National Weather Service, however, has said it conducted forecast briefings and issued warnings hours before the floods came.
“Flash Flood Warnings were also issued on the night of July 3 and in the early morning of July 4, giving preliminary lead times of more than three hours before flash flooding conditions occurred,” a spokesperson for the agency told the Daily Beast.
Trump said he plans to visit Texas “probably on Friday” to avoid getting in the way of local authorities responding to the situation.
“We’re working very close with representatives from Texas,” he said. “And it’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible.”
