Donald Trump appeared to ignore a question about the devastating Texas floods as he spoke with reporters Sunday.
The U.S. President was taking questions when a reporter asked him about the flooding in Texas, which has killed over 80 people so far.
While he leaned closer to the reporter as if to hear her better, he skipped the question and moved on.
Highlights
- President Trump dodged questions on the Texas flood deaths, claiming he 'couldn’t hear' a reporter's question about federal cuts.
- Over 80 people, including 28 children, have died in the Texas flooding.
- Nearly 850 NOAA jobs were cut earlier this year, including key meteorologist positions potentially impacting flood alerts.
- Experts say flood warnings were timely but ineffective, partly due to a lack of local alert systems and staff vacancies.
- Trump blamed Biden for the flood disaster, denied impacts from cuts, and refused to commit to rehiring meteorologists.
Donald Trump appeared to dodge a question on funding cuts and job reductions
Image credits: The White House
“Democrats are blaming your federal cuts for the deaths over in Texas,” the reporter told him.
Trump, who had managed to answer other questions without issue, replied, “I can’t hear you” and moved on to the next question.
It comes after critics blamed staffing cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Weather Service (NWS) for contributing to the high death toll and destruction.
Earlier this year, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), under the Trump administration, cut nearly 850 NOAA positions.
At the time, experts said the cuts could have a significant impact on the agency’s ability to provide accurate weather forecasts and deliver warnings.
The cuts included a warning coordination meteorologist at the San Antonio office, who left on April 30 after taking an early retirement package offered by the administration.
There were also several vacant positions at NWS’s San Angelo office, including a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster, and meteorologist in charge, The New York Times reported.
Image credits: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
Representative Joaquin Castro has called for an investigation into whether those cuts may have hindered early and effective alerts to communities near the Guadalupe River.
“I do think that it should be investigated and I don’t think it's helpful to have missing key personnel from the National Weather Service not in place to help prevent these tragedies,” he told CNN.
And while some Texas officials appear to have placed blame on the NWS for not predicting the extent of rainfall, warnings were released in the hours before the flash flooding.
A flood watch warning for Kerr County was issued 12 hours before the catastrophic flooding, and a flash flood warning was issued three hours before the Guadalupe River burst its banks.
Rescue efforts remain ongoing after the river burst its banks on Saturday
Image credits: Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
Meteorologist Matt Lanza told Axios the warnings were “meteorologically sound and adequate,” but as the storm hit in the early hours of the morning, they weren’t received.
He also pointed to the fact that the area didn’t have an alert system for flooding.
Trump has defended his administration's cuts and said they did not play a part in what happened in Texas, or leave key vacancies open at the NWS.
Image credits: The White House
“I’ll tell you: You look at that water situation, that was really the Biden setup. That was not our setup,” he told reporters.
“But I wouldn’t blame Biden for it either; I would just say this is a 100-year catastrophe, and it’s just so horrible to watch.”
When asked whether his administration should rehire any of the meteorologists who lost their jobs, the president did not seem to have an answer.
“I wouldn’t know that. I really wouldn’t. I would think not,” he said.
Image credits: Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
“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,” he added.
He also refused to answer whether he was still planning to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the wake of the tragedy.
“The mainstream media is deliberately lying about the events leading up to the catastrophic flooding in Texas,” Homeland Security posted on X.
“The National Weather Service executed timely, precise forecasting and warnings, despite unprecedented rainfall overwhelming the region.”
The Trump administration has defended job cuts and weather warnings
White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson told several outlets that critics linking the Trump administration cuts to the flooding were trying to politicize a disaster.
“False claims about the NWS have been repeatedly debunked by meteorologists, experts, and other public reporting,” she said, describing the accusations as “shameful and disgusting.”
So far, at least 82 people have been killed in the flooding in Texas, including 28 children.
Rescue efforts remain ongoing in a bid to trace 41 people who remain missing, with 10 girls and a counselor from a girls’ summer camp, Camp Mystic, yet to be found.