00:10And we have a tremendous group of people here
00:12that have done a great, unified, beautiful job.
00:17I want her in particular, because of what she's gone
00:20through this last few days, done an incredible job,
00:24as you know.
00:26Christy, I've been asking you to say a few words
00:30about Texas.
00:32The first person there was the first person I saw on television
00:36was you, actually.
00:38And you've worked great with the governor.
00:39It's terrific.
00:41And you might want to tell a little bit
00:45about the trials and tribulations,
00:47but we appreciate the job that you and everybody have done.
00:51You had people there as fast as anybody's ever seen.
00:55So, really appreciate it.
00:57We all do.
00:57And maybe you could say a few words, sir.
01:00Well, thank you, Mr. President.
01:01I want to thank you for your leadership.
01:03Texas is strong, and the people of Texas
01:05are incredibly strong.
01:06They've gone through something that is absolutely horrific.
01:10And it is heartbreaking to watch these families
01:13suffer the way that they are.
01:15As soon as this flash flooding event happened,
01:19you know, the governor has activated
01:22his emergency responders.
01:23Nim Kidd is his emergency management director,
01:26who is incredible, and has immediately worked
01:30with the local first responders to get help to individuals
01:33and get them evacuated, put requests in to me.
01:37We deployed, sir, right away, as you know,
01:40because you and I were talking a lot during this time
01:42at Coast Guard.
01:43We also had some assets out of Customs and Border Protection.
01:46Our BORTAC teams went in and helped with rescues
01:50and clearing debris so that we could get roads open
01:54and people get the help that they need.
01:55I think when I got there the most, sir, that day,
02:00as soon as I arrived on site, was getting a briefing
02:02from all the emergency responders was just how unified they were
02:07in focusing on the fact that they were there to save lives.
02:11They were there to rescue people, find people who were still alive,
02:14and to reunify them with their family members.
02:18We, as a federal government, don't manage these disasters.
02:21The state does.
02:23We come in and support them,
02:24and that's exactly what we did here in this situation.
02:27FEMA went to an enhanced level immediately,
02:30but as soon as you signed the major disaster declaration,
02:35we were able to get them resources and dollars right away,
02:38just like you envisioned through state block grants,
02:41to help them with cleanup.
02:43And we're still there in presence, and FEMA's been deployed,
02:45and we're cutting through the paperwork of the old FEMA,
02:48streamlining it much like your vision of how FEMA should operate,
02:51and it's been a much better response to help these families get
02:55through this terrible situation.
02:57We still are looking for people.
02:59We're still looking for a lot of little girls and other family members
03:04that were camping along that river, and they will continue
03:08until they find every single person,
03:11and we will continue to help them and assist in that.
03:13I was surprised when I got there at the camp that day right after this happened,
03:20the parents that were there, the parents that were looking for their children
03:25and picking up their daughter's stuffed animals out of the mud and finding their daughter's shoe
03:33that might be laying in the cabin and just hugging and comforting people matters a lot.
03:40I'm extremely grateful for God's hand in that whole situation because hundreds and hundreds
03:45of people were saved, and this is a time for all of us in this country to remember
03:53that we were created to serve each other.
03:56God created us to take care of each other, and that when we do that, we are happier,
04:02we are more fulfilled, and we can walk alongside people on their worst day
04:08and help them get through it and come out the other side knowing that we can continue
04:15to live a life that God has purposed for us.
04:18So they're grateful for you.
04:20Several times the day after the flooding, you and Melania were on the phone with me,
04:25and I want to thank you for that, and that meant the world.
04:28I was able to tell many of those folks that I had been visiting with you
04:32and that you had said, whatever they need, Christy, let's deploy it and get it down there
04:36and be helpful.
04:37And on Sunday, when the families were waiting at a church to identify their children's bodies,
04:43Franklin Graham, and I called in and prayed with the families and read some scripture with them,
04:49and he was incredible in making himself available to that as well.
04:53We'll be back down there in a couple of days and continue to do all we can,
04:58but this is an unprecedented event.
05:01It really is.
05:02There's been tragedies like this around the country, but everyone is unique in different situations,
05:08and, you know, the response the federal government had supporting the state through this.
05:14I'm proud of the people that stepped up and immediately came.
05:18The Coast Guard, when they came in, they had a difficult time even getting the aircraft in and landed.
05:24They had to try several times in the weather to get it in and deploy,
05:28and I think we've heard about, you know, our one Coast Guard member that was responsible for saving over 165 people,
05:36but that entire crew did incredible work, and all the first responders there did incredible work.
05:40And I know people are getting tired now, but they're getting reinforcements, and volunteers are showing up,
05:48and I just want to commend the governor and his team for being the leaders.
05:52And they're so thankful that you're letting them make the decisions and manage the response like it should be,
05:59and then us supporting them with the resources of the federal government.
06:02We've already deployed dollars to the state, much like the block grants that you've talked about.
06:06So, very grateful for that, sir.
06:08The President- There's never been a wave like this outside of the breaking of a dam.
06:13This was almost a wave that was, ended up being 30 feet high more, actually.
06:20Now, with a dam, you can understand it, but this approached almost with that speed.
06:25When you see a dam break, it's not a pretty sight.
06:27It wipes out everything, and this is the kind of thing that built up so fast.
06:32And it's happened two or three times before over the years, but not to this extent.
06:37But tell them when you met the father who was picking up the daughter's clothing and so sad.
06:44I had walked through the cabin where all the little girls died, and I had kind of fallen apart in there.
06:51But I walked out of the cabin, and a gentleman was standing there, and he said,
06:57that man over there needs a hug.
06:59And so I walked over to him, and I hugged him, and I said, do you work here?
07:03And he said, no, my little girl was in that cabin.
07:06And he said, and I just found her best friend about an hour and a half ago.
07:10She had passed away.
07:11And he just fell apart.
07:13And so then we just hugged and talked for probably an hour about that.
07:20But then there was another.
07:21The grandpa was there looking for his granddaughter as well.
07:25There was a dad there of one of the counselors.
07:27And the counselor was alive, but she was dealing with the fact that she had hung on to some of these girls
07:32and was trying to keep them out of the floodwaters and had gotten hit by something
07:38and had lost two of the girls and wasn't able to hang on to them
07:42and was going to live the rest of her life thinking about that moment
07:46when she wasn't able to hang on to these girls.
07:48But these parents were picking up their kids' belongings out of the mud
07:52and throughout the camp and putting them in bags.
07:55And then one of the dads said, I knew 50 of these girls here.
08:00So what I knew, that was her dress, my daughter's friend's dress.
08:05So he was picking it up and putting it in a bag to return to her parents.
08:09And then the director was there comforting everybody who had lost his father the night before, too,
08:17and he was still there trying to facilitate all of these parents grieving their children and find them.
08:23So the strength of people is incredible.
08:26One of the things that I asked there that day was that they all have escorts or counselors when parents come in.
08:33So from that point, that when they came into the camp, that they have somebody with them when they're going and looking for their children's belongings or looking for their children.
08:45And so very emotional, but also just so tragic.
08:54The relationship with Texas and the governor has been obviously very good for years with me.
08:59But the relationship with Texas and their first responders and us with our first responders and lots of other people.
09:06And we brought in a lot of helicopters from all over and we had a lot of helicopters.
09:11It was actually dangerous, a lot of helicopters up there, but they were real pros and they were responsible for pulling out a lot of people.
09:19And we got them there fast and the Texas had some good ones, too.
09:24But the response has been incredible.
09:27And the fact that we got along so well, I don't know, that's not, I don't even think that's a political thing, but we got along so well and it was so unified.
09:37I think a lot of lives have been saved.
09:39That could have been as bad as it was and you could have lost double or triple.
09:43This thing was just really horrible.
09:46Well, congratulations on a great job and appreciate it.
09:50I know you're going down.
09:50I'll be going down on Friday with the first lady who would be taking a trip and we don't want to get in anyone's way because, you know, that's what happens.
10:00The president goes and everyone's around focused.
10:03I don't want anyone to focus on us, but it's possible they could have, they could have somebody saved still, you know, there's a lot of areas.
10:12It's a big area and probably unlikely at this point.
10:18But there could be, I mean, they're thinking there could be the possibility, but what a tragic situation.
10:25And good job and we'll see you on Friday and we'll finish out the day here.
