- 7/11/2025
President Trump hosted a roundtable with first responders in Kerrville, Texas on Friday.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Well, this is a tough one, and
00:30we just, we just were making a little tour of the area. It's hard to believe the devastation.
00:40Trees that are 100 years old just ripped out of the ground. I've never seen anything like it.
00:44I've seen a lot of bad ones. I've gone to a lot of hurricanes, a lot of tornadoes. I've
00:49never seen anything like this. This is a bad one. We just visited with incredible families
00:55that, I mean, look, they've been devastated. They lost their child or two children. And
01:04it's just hard to believe what, I've never seen anything like it, a little narrow river that becomes
01:10a monster. And that's what happened. But the First Lady and I are here in Texas to express
01:17the love and support and the anguish of our entire nation in the aftermath of this
01:24really horrific and deadly flood. Nobody has any idea how and why a thing like this could happen.
01:35And by the way, I have to tell you, the people here, first responders, the sheriff's office,
01:41all of the police, law enforcement, they've done an unbelievable job. And in speaking to the parents,
01:47they said, everybody has been so professional from the governor to the senators all the way down
01:55to the local people on the site that really are a little bit used to this. But they've been looking
02:01at this for years, but in much smaller doses, you know, much, much smaller doses. Twelve years ago,
02:08and then 1932, they had a real bad one. But that bad one was half of what this was.
02:14But I was speaking to some of the great people in the town, and they said, no, every year we get a
02:20little bit, but it was like a little bit of a flood, right? You were telling me. And it was just a flood.
02:26We got used to it. We had people. We took care of it. And this year, it was like, what's going on,
02:32right? So all across the country, Americans' hearts are shattered. I had to be here as president.
02:39First lady wanted to be here. And all the beautiful souls. And we're filled with grief and devastation.
02:48The loss of life. And unfortunately, they're still looking. They're still looking. There's a lot of
02:54missing children, possibly, mostly. We don't know. But they're still looking. And they'll find
03:03everybody. But it's not an easy thing. You would think it would be easy. It's very tough. I looked at
03:10what they're going through, what they have to do. But dozens and dozens of precious children taken
03:16from us with such. I looked at the pictures of almost all of them. And it's terrible. Following a
03:24torrential downpour, the worst that anyone's ever seen. Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in
03:34less than 45 minutes. And I've even heard it went well over 30 feet. There's one story that one person
03:41said it had to be 60 feet at one moment. This is like a giant, giant wave in the Pacific Ocean
03:48that the best surfers in the world would be afraid to surf. And it unleashed a catastrophic flooding as
03:55the most. Most residents were asleep in their beds. A very dark evening. The waters claimed at least 135,
04:07140 lives. They're getting that count. But the count that they don't have is how many are still
04:14missing. A lot of lives, a lot of young angels. At the girls' Christian summer camp,
04:19a camp known as Camp Mystic. A legendary camp. A camp that people would want to go to from all over
04:26the country. People, parents, they come and they would stay with their children. They'd stay in other
04:32cabins just to be with their children. But a legendary place. They were there because they loved God.
04:39And as we grieve this unthinkable tragedy, we take comfort in the knowledge that God has welcomed those
04:46little beautiful girls into his comforting arms in heaven. And we believe that, have to believe that.
04:55And we do. And we lost some wonderful people beyond the little girls. We lost some very brave men and
05:03women that tried to save the girls. As our nation, we mourn for every single life that was swept away in
05:12the flood. And we pray for the families that are left behind. It's amazing the incredible spirit from
05:21those families. I don't know. I don't even know how they do it. But moments ago, Melania and I
05:30spent a lot of time with them. That's why we're a little late. I think this was a good reason to be
05:35late, frankly. And we just gave our warmest condolences. But you say to yourself, you know,
05:41how do you give condolences? How do you do that to a young person that three days ago was here,
05:49four days ago was here and vibrant and now is no longer here? The search for the missing continues.
05:56The people that are doing it are unbelievable people that you couldn't get better people than
06:00this anywhere. Christie, right? Anywhere in the world, you couldn't get better people. And they're
06:08doing the job like I don't think anybody else could, frankly. And I want to thank them. I want to thank
06:13all of these great first responders who raced into very grave danger. We have some people that
06:21were incredible. The single Coast Guard rescue crew saved an incredible 169 children at Camp Mystic,
06:30169. And the camp staff was also incredibly courageous. Are those Coast Guard people around
06:39here someplace? Because I hear some incredible, incredible people. And I actually, Scott Ruskin,
06:48is he around? Where's Scott? He's not here right now, sir. But he will be here later. And I will be
06:53presenting them with some. I'll let him know. And John Dunn, the owner of the hunt store,
06:59was afloat. Where are you? Okay, good. We spoke a little while ago and it sort of,
07:06John was telling me some stories about that store and it was just really amazing.
07:10Yes, Mr. President. First, let me correct. I was owner of the hunt store from 2013 until April of last
07:18year where I actually sold the store to Haley and B.B. Lehrman, who are excellent operators. And
07:24they're on the ground right now in hunt leading the effort there together with the fire department,
07:29the churches, the schools, what have you. And they're doing a phenomenal job.
07:34Good job. My role in it is seller finance the deal. And you're going to bring it back.
07:40I'm absolutely going to bring it back. And the walls are up. The two walls are up.
07:43And there's belief out there that it was a total loss. It's not. A gentleman by the name of Larry
07:51Graham put up some incredible walls in 1973. And he's a great engineer. And those walls are still
07:58standing. Save the walls. Save the walls. Okay. And the goal is, and I think we can get it done
08:04between Haley, B.B., myself and some outside help that we're going to be getting. I think we're going
08:09to get it reopened very quickly. Good. I think it's important to get it open quickly because once
08:15we do, the community can can get back to a sense of normalcy. I think it'll be good for the community.
08:20I think it'll accelerate the recovery process. There's a lot that has to be done. But I'm impressed
08:28and very pleased with the resources that I think are going to become available through the conversations
08:32with Chip Roy, Governor Abbott's office and others that we will get it done quickly. Yes,
08:37thanks, John. Good luck with it. Okay, I'm sure you will. The search for the missing is continuing,
08:42as you know, and today I especially want to thank all of these incredible people from the Coast Guard.
08:48And you'll give my regards in particular to some of the people we mentioned. Every American should be
08:54inspired by what's taken place during this short period of time. And I want to thank Governor Abbott.
08:59He's an amazing guy. We come very, very close politically and personally. And we've had a
09:08tremendous relationship with Texas. I guess Texas brought us together. We were together fine,
09:14but now we're together a lot more. And I want to thank Cecilia, your great wife, who's been our
09:20friend for a long time. The job you do is really incredible in so many different ways, including
09:26with the border and every, every different way. Admired by everybody. Secretaries, Christy Noe,
09:33Brooke Rollins, Scott Turner and administrator, Kelly Loeffler, they all wanted to be here.
09:39Some of them hopped on the plane with me. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, you're here,
09:44among us. And thank you very much. Our great Lieutenant Governor, I see you sitting there.
09:49I don't know if they even have your name down, but when I'm here, your name is down, right?
09:54He's doing a good job. Always did. Always did. Also numerous members of Congress, including Chip Roy
10:02from the district. This is Chip's district. I had a lot of, a lot of time last week we spent with
10:08Chip Roy getting that great, big, beautiful bill passed. And who would have thought who,
10:14and he's not easy, but he's good. Where is he? Where's Chip?
10:20Who would have thought this was going to happen? And he called because we had a big ceremony set up.
10:24And he said, you know, we have a little bit of a flood here and I think it's going to be a little
10:28bit. I better stay here. I better not come back and go to it. And he wanted to be there. He was a part of
10:32it, a big part of it. And then he called again and he said, this is bad. And then it got really
10:38bad, far beyond your worst, wildest imagination, right? So thank you very much, Chip. I appreciate
10:46it. And Brian Babin also is, I don't know if Brian's here, but we do have, and I have to just
10:53give some of the names because this is, it's very unusual. Nathaniel Moran, Dan Crenshaw,
11:00all of these people wanted to be here. Keith Self, Jake Elsie, August Pflueger,
11:08Greg Goldman, Ronny Jackson. Where are you people? Are you here? You're all here. Where's Ronny Jackson?
11:14Ronny Jackson. What a, what a person. Every one of these people is so incredible. Randy Weber,
11:20Pete Sessions. Tony Gonzalez. Well, we have everybody. Beth Van Dyne. Hi, Beth. Hi, Beth.
11:30Roger Williams. Brandon Gill. Hi, Roger. Brandon, you're here. Yes. Thanks, Brandon. Doing a good job,
11:39Brandon. Michael Cloud, John Carter, and Wesley Hunt. And we have others, but I'm not,
11:47uh, we just, we have to get on with it. But, uh, I did want to ask, uh, Lieutenant Governor Dan
11:56Patrick. He's been my friend from the beginning. He's been the chairman of all three of my campaigns.
12:00And, uh, all I know is we won by record amount. So I guess you were pretty good chairman, right, Dan?
12:06And his son is fantastic too. But Attorney General Ken Paxton. Ken's around here someplace.
12:11Uh, hi, Ken. Hi. And, uh, Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Freeman Martin.
12:19Freeman, thank you very much. You're doing an amazing job. Texas Chief of Emergency Management,
12:26Nim Kidd. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for greeting us too. Major General Thomas Seltzer of
12:34the Texas Military Department. Thomas, great job. Thank you. Really good job. And many of the, uh,
12:40the officials and government, everybody is here. You know, it's amazing. I do these things and
12:46often you, you don't have, you just don't have a turnout like this. Half of government is here.
12:51But my administration is doing everything in its power to help Texas. And I can tell you that,
12:57uh, and the governor will be the first to tell you that when the, when the request was made for the
13:02emergency funds, Christie, I think we, we gave it within about two minutes, maybe less.
13:07And they had everything they needed, right? Right. Immediately. So we've deployed over 400
13:12first responders and assisted or enabled more than 1500 rescues. Amazing. 1500. Customers and
13:21Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard have deployed numerous search and rescue crews. And
13:25they're, they're all over the territory and trauma teams. And beyond this area, you know,
13:31the governor was saying we have, uh, we've gone a little bit beyond this area. Oh, there's Dr.
13:37Phil. Look at Dr. Phil. You're looking good, Phil. This is a hell of a situation, isn't it? Huh?
13:43FEMA has deployed multiple emergency response units. And, uh, FEMA has been really headed by some very
13:49good people. We have some good people running for you. It's about time, right? We get some good ones.
13:54They failed us in North Carolina. But when we got in on January 20th, they fixed it up in no time.
14:01And, uh, the Army Corps of Engineers is always around and always strong and brilliant.
14:07Uh, we're also taking historic action to ensure that such a nightmare never happens again. And
14:12we're going to look and see how can the thing like this, they could say it's a hundred year. Somebody
14:16says it's a 500 year event. It doesn't, we're not going to let a thing like this happen. Again,
14:22where it can wreak this kind of devastation. Earlier this year, I directed a sweeping review of the
14:27preparedness and critical infrastructure. I think, uh, again, I, I have to say when I,
14:33whenever I say that, I have to say that the level of professionalism was incredible,
14:38but we'll all work together to find out exactly what can be done because they do want to rebuild.
14:43And they're going to, I just want to, uh, say we have a wonderful first lady
14:48and she's done a great job as first lady. And, uh, she really, uh, very special woman when she saw
14:57what and met the people that we met just a little while ago. It's very devastating. And
15:02would you like to say a few words, honey? My deepest sympathy to all of the parents who lost beautiful
15:11young souls, deepest sympathy from all of us, uh, to the community, to everybody who lost a loved one.
15:21Uh, we are grieving with you. Our nation is grieving with you. We just met with the wonderful families.
15:30We pray with them. Uh, we hug, we hold hands. They shared the stories and I met, uh, beautiful young ladies.
15:40Uh, they gave me this special bracelet from the camp, uh, in honor of the, all of the little girls
15:50that they lost their lives. So we are here to honor them and also to give the support, help,
16:00and I will be back. Uh, I promise to them and, uh, I just pray for them and giving them my strength and love.
16:11Thank you. That's very nice. Thank you very much. So, uh, I just want to say God bless you all.
16:16And I'd like to ask Governor Abbott to say a few words, please. Thank you.
16:19Well, first of all, thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, First Lady. The first thing both of
16:23you mentioned were the lives, uh, that were affected by this. Uh, whenever there's a disaster
16:30or catastrophe, the first thing we focus on is saving lives, prioritizing those lives. Every minute,
16:37every hour counts. And, uh, that's what Chief Nim Kidd focused on, what the local officials focused on,
16:42what the state focused on, but also what your administration did on the very day of the flood.
16:48You know, the, the Coast Guard literally saving
16:49lives right and left. And we cannot thank you enough for deploying, uh, the Coast Guard,
16:55deploying the resources. And, and as you pointed out, immediately when I made a request for a
17:01disaster declaration,
17:02you and your administration granted that. This is the fastest that I'm aware of,
17:07of any administration responding so swiftly, so collaboratively, so, uh, coordinated as we
17:13have, uh, in response to this. Uh, thank you for that major disaster declaration. It ensures that
17:18we're going to be able to more effectively, uh, respond and help rebuild. And let me make one thing
17:23clear about the Hunt store. We will rebuild the Hunt store very quickly right here in Hunt, Texas.
17:32Thank you, Governor. Uh, also, I do want to thank all the first responders. And I want, we, we have
17:37many of our legislators over here. I want to thank them for stepping up and being here constantly, uh,
17:44as well as state officials who join with us. And as, as we've said before, we remain committed.
17:51We're here for the long run. Uh, we will maintain our operations to, uh, search and find everybody that,
17:58that we can, as well as ensure that we're going to rebuild this community
18:02from, from Hunt to Cap Mystic to Kerrville down, uh, below. Uh, we are committed for the long run,
18:08not just to rebuild, but to rebuild in a better way. Uh, have received a lot of detail, even from
18:14the president himself, about ways that we can do a better job in, in the rebuilding process. And we
18:19will put all of that to work. We have a special session beginning in 10 days when we're going to
18:25start working legislatively to make sure that we address every challenge that the people of this
18:31entire region, including the central Texas region, make sure we help rebuild, uh, the families and
18:37communities of all of them. But we would not have been able to do that the way that we have
18:42had it not been for you, your commitment to Texas. I know you love Texas and Texas loves you.
18:49We appreciate you showing up. And because of your swift and effective response,
18:53we're better positioned to deliver on all those commitments than ever before.
18:57Thank you, Governor. That's very nice. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
19:01Christy, would you like to say something? Fantastic job you've done.
19:04Well, Mr. President, I just want to thank you for coming and being here today and to
19:09our first lady as well. Uh, your heart is evident for the people of Texas. And by you coming here and
19:16spending the day and taking the time to spend so much time with the families, I've spoken with many of
19:21them over the last several days. And they're so grateful for you that not only are you here to
19:26come and walk alongside of them, uh, but to spend time with them and to deploy resources to help
19:32support the governor and his team, I think has meant the world, not just to those that are making the
19:37decisions, but to all of those down to the ones who have lost their children and those who are still
19:42looking for their children. So that's the hardest part about the situation we have here today,
19:47sir, is that, um, when you have a disaster like this, I believe this is an unprecedented event. I,
19:52I haven't heard in, in my knowledge, know of a flood that happened like this before. Um, so,
20:00you know, in our experience, we know that it's at least a one in 1,000 year flood that hit this area
20:05in an unprecedented way. And emergencies and disasters are always locally executed.
20:12The state manages them. And then the federal government comes in and supports that. What,
20:18what, what we are doing here, sir, is empowering the state and the local officials to make the best
20:24decisions for their people because they know their people, they know their community. And when they ask,
20:30then we come in and support them. So thank you for being a president who trusts people,
20:34who lets them use the responsibility that they have to make the best decisions for their families,
20:39for their communities. And we come in and we support them in that. So I can't thank you for,
20:44for helping us making such quick decisions for Nim and his team. And the governor is absolutely
20:50fantastic. Every time I picked up the phone and, and was here, um, the Lieutenant Governor was available.
20:56Uh, the entire team, the Coast Guard and the Border Patrol were absolute amazing resources on the ground
21:04immediately. And we've had over 700 different FEMA employees and volunteers here as well that are
21:09engaged. And so all of your assets that you have as a federal government are deployed to help this
21:14community restore, but also to heal. I would just ask everybody in the room to remember to,
21:21to love on each other too, and to, uh, tell stories and memories and of, that's how the greatest fear
21:30when you lose someone in your life is that people will forget them. So tell, tell the stories, um,
21:37that you knew and write them down and remember them because nobody wants their loved one that they
21:41don't have anymore to ever be forgotten. Thanks, Christy. Appreciate it. Uh, Nim, would you say a few
21:47words, please? You've done a fantastic job working with Christy and everybody else. Thank you. Go ahead.
21:51Thank you. Thank you both for being here. I, uh, our hearts are broken, but they fuel the engine that
21:58drives this response for this community. These local first responders are the best in the nation.
22:03They put their lives on the line. Our volunteer firefighters that were out there putting their
22:06lives on the line, knowing that their homes were at risk. You have the best in the nation right here
22:11at the local level. Governor Abbott declared 21 Texas counties for this weather event under a state
22:16of disaster declaration. Your immediate declaration for individual assistance and public assistance
22:22will help us rebuild and recover. We've had over 2,200 state agency response personnel assisting our
22:29local government partners. Mr. President, here's a staggering number. Over 12,300 volunteers have
22:36shown up here out of love to support this community. Just imagine working 10 hours a day,
22:42seven days into this event right now. That's over 861,000 hours of volunteer support right here.
22:4819 other states have sent resources to us. Secretary Noem, thank you for the coordination and the effort
22:54on that. Your team has been phenomenal. We will continue the search nonstop. We will continue debris
22:59removal and we will help this community rebuild. We're ready, sir. Thank you. Really great job you've
23:05done and the coordination has been incredible with us and everybody else. Thank you very much. Dr. Phil,
23:10I see you sitting there and this might be a time for you to give us some of your words of wisdom,
23:17if you would. Thank you. Well, thank you. I've talked to families and survivors, parents and grandparents,
23:30and the truth is we know psychologically that the number one stressor that we can experience in life
23:37is the loss of a child. And the the worst situation that we can experience that is when it's sudden
23:45and when it's violent. That's the worst thing that can happen stress-wise in life. And
23:54you know, it's people say, well, you know, you get over it in time. You will. The truth is
24:00you never get over it. You get through it. And one of the things, uh, Secretary Noem was just talking
24:08about, no truer words could be said, uh, that it's cathartic to talk about this. And there's a collective
24:18consciousness in these communities down here. This is, this is my country here. Texas is home for me. And,
24:24and there's a collective consciousness here and everybody in these communities suffered this loss
24:32at some level. And so everybody shares that. And so everybody shares the healing and that will come
24:39through here. Everybody will rally together. And these are, this is about faith and it's about family.
24:47And, and it's about, it's, it's, it's truly about community. And, and it says Texas strong on,
24:56on the front of the, on the desk that you're, you're sitting at. And that's, that's true because
25:01people will come together and we need to realize that giving this a voice. And if you see someone in
25:09the store, everybody wonders, you know, do I say something to them? I know they lost a child or a
25:15grandchild. Do I bring it up or cause they look like they're doing okay. The answer to that question
25:21is an unambiguous yes. You don't ever let them think you've moved on from it. It's okay to go and
25:28say, Hey, look, I, I know about the loss. I, I share that with you and I love you. And we, we won't forget
25:35this because these bright lights will go away. Another headline will come along and people move on.
25:44Let them know we don't forget. We don't forget the loss. It will never go away. And we remember it.
25:53And these first responders down here, men and women that were diving into those waters.
26:01Uh, I, I, I've talked to a, a, a woman whose husband was standing on the bank of the river,
26:08yelling to a father, throw me your baby, throw me your baby. Let me help you. There's, there's a,
26:17Mr. President, there is a depth of root and caring here. Like you just can't believe until you see it.
26:25And everybody here knows that. And it's so inspiring for you and the first lady to come
26:32here and, and share this and see the fiber of these communities. That's why they rally around you
26:38and, and everything that, that you stand for here from the border to the, to the disasters. And it, it,
26:46it's not just a photo op for you to be here. People see your heart and believe in what you stand for.
26:53And God bless you for coming here. And it means a lot. God bless you. Thank you. That was really
26:58beautiful. I'm glad we, I'm glad I asked him to say a few words, Dan. Do you want to say a couple
27:02of words, Dan? Please. Lieutenant governor. We spoke the morning immediately. You and I
27:08talked the very next morning and he was right there. First of all, Mr. President, first lady,
27:16a long time ago, I asked a pastor when I was going to see a hospital, a person in the hospital who
27:22didn't have long to live. And I said, what do I say? And they said,
27:24don't worry about what you say. Just be there. So you and Madam first lady, the two of you being here
27:34sends a message. It paints a picture that words can't express and it gives them hope.
27:39And the people of this community have become a family. I didn't know the mayor last week. I wish
27:45I didn't know him today under these circumstances, but we've become a family around this room. And it
27:49starts with you at the top, down to the governor, down to the statewide, down to the secretary,
27:54Kristi Noem coming in. She called Saturday morning and said, the president wants me to be there today.
27:59And she came. And so that message is so important. Two things will get us through our faith. So the
28:07people in along this river are not standing on the rock of the bank of the river. They're standing on
28:12the rock of their faith. And that will get them through the struggles that you talk about. But you
28:19and the federal government will help us get through everything, all the debris that has to be taken,
28:24all the rebuilding. And I know we can count on you. So from the bottom of my heart, on behalf of all
28:29of these families, thank you for being here. It, you just can't measure how much it means to them.
28:37Thank you very much. Great job. Appreciate it. Do you want to take a couple of questions,
28:42governor? Would you want to do that? Do you want to? Sure. Is the press going to be respectful of
28:46this event? This horrible event? This horrible tragedy? Please? Yes. Go ahead, please.
28:52Mr. President. Marissa, I'm here with CBS News Texas. Several families we've worked from are
28:56obviously upset because they say that those warnings, those alerts didn't go out in time.
29:02And they also say that people could have been saved. What do you say to those families?
29:06Well, I think everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances. This was,
29:10I guess Christie said a one in 500, one in a thousand years. And I just have admiration for
29:17the job that everybody did. There's just admiration. The only bad person would ask a question like that,
29:26to be honest with you. I don't know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like
29:31that. I think this has been heroism. This has been incredible, really, the job you've all done.
29:37It's easy to sit back and say, Oh, what could have happened here or there? You know,
29:41maybe we could have done something differently. This was a thing that says never happened before.
29:47And nobody's ever seen anything. I've never seen anything like this. I've gone to some real bad ones.
29:52I've never seen anything like this. So, uh, uh, I, I can, I admire you and I consider you
30:00heroes and heroin. And, uh, I think you've done an amazing job. Uh, Brian, go ahead, please.
30:07Yeah. Mr. President, if I could ask you, who was the first person to contact you to notify you that
30:13this tragedy was unfolding? Uh, probably Christie, but I was notified by a lot. And Chip called also.
30:20Chip was here for, uh, he thought it was going to be a little flood. He was going to miss the signing for the
30:25big, beautiful bill. And he called to apologize. He said he's going to be, uh, delayed because of
30:33a little flood and the little flood turned out to be, uh, the biggest flood anyone's ever seen.
30:38So Chip and, but Christie called right away. She was there. I looked, I looked the next morning.
30:43She was right there on the ball. So I just want to say as a native Texan, I've received hundreds of
30:48messages. I told you that the other day, but I'm going to tell our representatives that are here in the
30:52crowd today. Thank you for your response. This is Texas strong. President Trump, this is America
30:57first policy in terms to responding to a tragedy like this. Thank you on behalf of Texas as well.
31:02Thank you very much. Well, that's a nice reporter. That's a nice question. That's a nice, but I like
31:08his statement even better. Thank you very much, Brian. That's very nice. Yeah, please. Go ahead.
31:13Great to see you, president. Thank you. Thank you. First lady Melania from being here. I'm born and
31:17raised in Texas and there's not a person in our state who hasn't been impacted by this tragedy,
31:22but what's been so disheartening recently are these ghouls on the left, like Jasmine Crockett and
31:27the left wing media who want to point fingers and play partisan games and fundraise off of this crisis.
31:32And what I love about Texas is we come together in a crisis across party lines, ideological lines. So
31:37what is your message and maybe governor Abbott as well to these folks on the left who are using this to
31:42gain partisan points in viral videos? Well, I'll start off by just saying, you know, they've,
31:48they've lost their confidence. They've had a tremendous run of bad talent. I don't say bad
31:55luck. I say bad talent. And all they want to do is criticize. And I hope we can someday be bipartisan,
32:02but all they like to do is criticize. And this way they're getting just absolutely clobbered because
32:07everyone sees what an incredible job the governor did. The everybody in this room, everybody at this
32:12table in particular, but everybody in this room did an incredible job. And the public knows it. You know,
32:17the public's wise to it. They have automatic, they have their sound bite. They send out a sound bite
32:22and it's supposed to be, you know, you're supposed to say that. And if you don't say that, they throw
32:26you out of the party. No, they've, they've, they've lost, honestly, they've lost their confidence. I see
32:31some of the people they're putting forward and those people will only ruin our nation. Our nation
32:36a year ago was dead and it was going down, but it was dead. And now we have the most successful
32:47nation anywhere in the world. You take a look. I was with the king of Saudi Arabia. I was with the
32:52leaders of the world recently at NATO. Every one of them said the same thing. They said, you know,
32:57it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Your nation was dead one year ago. And now you have the
33:03hottest nation. It's the hottest nation, hottest in quotes. It's the hottest nation anywhere in the
33:08world. Every leader is saying that we are with the hottest nation in the world. We've all gotten
33:13together. We've done a great job. This state has been unbelievable. I work so well with the governor
33:19and with your senators and with everybody in this state. We just, we just, we get it done. We've had
33:26some pretty big problems here with the floods and all the different things that we've worked out. And
33:31we, we respond very quickly and they respond very quickly and they spend their money wisely. You know,
33:36we give them a lot of money, but they spend it wisely. I can't say that's true always. Sometimes we give
33:41money and they don't spend it so wisely. They spend it very, very foolishly. So a governor,
33:46do you want to say a few words? Sure. You know, one thing that you pointed out that we all know about
33:50Texans is part of our bloodstream. And that is we're, we're Texas tough. We're made for challenges.
33:56I read a piece the other day. I'll just quote one line from, and that is when the rivers rise,
34:02so do we, and we rise to the occasion. And the way that we do that is by everybody working together.
34:08We are one team united. We are Texans and fighting as Texans, we're going to rebuild not just Kerrville
34:15or Hunt or Kerr County, but across the entire state, across regions. We're going to come together
34:20and fight together and ensure that we elevate even better. Keeping foremost in mind exactly
34:26what Dr. Phil was talking about. As we rebuild, we got to constantly comfort the families of those
34:33who have suffered a loss. Those two things combined. And we will be our quintessential selves.
34:39And that is Texas tough, Texas resilient. Thank you very much. Go ahead, sir.
34:44Mr. President, first of all. The blue shirt. Thank you for,
34:47Mr. Right over here. Go ahead. I'll wait for Chip. He's my,
34:49he's my representative. I'll wait for him. Mr. President, if I could just jump in and just
34:53say one thing, which is, um, I can't thank you enough. When, when I called you on Friday,
34:59you said, whatever you need. When I called the secretary's office, she called me within 15
35:03minutes and said, whatever you need. And then she came here this weekend. I've never seen such a
35:08quick response and such a focus on delivering for the people. But importantly, I want to thank all
35:13of my colleagues in the house sitting right over there. Every single one of them called me personally.
35:17Every single one of them reached out to this team that the governor was just talking about,
35:22the team effort to deliver for the people of Texas. They're here now, not here at a microphone.
35:27They're here just to be here because they believe in this state and they believe in what you're doing
35:32as the president and they believe in what the governor is doing. And importantly, this morning,
35:36I was at a press conference for the community foundation of the Hill Country, which has raised
35:40over $30 million from the, uh, great, uh, you know, people of this state and from around the country.
35:47And they sent checks out today of $5 million to people in this community to help them with cash for
35:52people, for small businesses, first responders, and all the people that need help to, uh, reunite.
35:58And the final point I'll just say, for all of the media clamoring to ask that ridiculous first
36:03question and try to point fingers, the governor said it best when he said that pointing fingers
36:07is for losers. This state is about looking forward and we'll figure out how to make our systems the best
36:12they can be. But importantly, when you see 26 feet of water rising a foot per minute, don't go around
36:17pointing fingers. The people in this community rallied around to help people. And that's the
36:21enduring image. Those little girls from Camp Mystic who were singing hymns as they watched the damage
36:27as they left that camp coming out of there. And that's who the people of Texas are. And I thank you,
36:31Mr. President. Thank you very much. And you know, two words, unity and competence. If you were to ask me,
36:37two words that I've seen here. One is unity. The unity has been unbelievable. And then the competence,
36:43the competence of the Coast Guard and some of the people within the Coast Guard that saved a lot
36:48of lives. They went out and they saved a lot of lives. But there were others other than the Coast
36:52Guard. But I would say competence and unity, the way everyone has just pulled together. It's rare that
36:59you see this. Mr. President. Again, I've been to so many and I've seen bickering and fighting and,
37:06you know, just it doesn't work the same way. This has been amazing. This is and this is the biggest
37:11because I've never seen one like this. Neither has anybody else, by the way. Yes, please.
37:15It's still packed, Mr. President. It's been a while since we've seen each other.
37:19Obviously, the staffing was where it needed to be. In fact, it was heavier than it should have been
37:22because of the holiday weekend. Whatever they're saying in the in the left news isn't the truth.
37:26You're a developer, though. At one o'clock in the morning, the technology only goes as far as it goes.
37:31Kids don't have their phones. Phones are dead. People by the riverside
37:34don't have electricity. They're not going to get a phone alert that way. As a developer going forward,
37:39knowing that everything was done lightning fast by Secretary Noem, by you, by the governor and
37:44everybody else. You did everything right. What do we do next time, though, to make sure that people
37:48are alerted if they're dead asleep? Maybe an alarm system, maybe a siren system. You might know better
37:53than I. But what do we do going forward? Because we've got to make sure that people get the alert
37:57when it's time to get the alert. Thank you. Yeah, you'll probably have to do that. You'll probably
38:01come up with something very unique because there is no system right now. There's been no this is
38:06a thing like this has never happened that anybody knows. Certainly not to this extent. But I know
38:11the governor and everybody is working on it. They're meeting and they'll figure something out.
38:16Go ahead, Governor. Yeah, so we begin a session in 10 days. We will address every single question
38:22that you just asked. You mentioned some of the ideas. There are many more. And we want to hear,
38:28most importantly, we have to devise a response that's right for this community. And this community has to
38:36weigh in. And they need time to be able to convey that to us. But we're going to work on alerts.
38:41We're going to work on every single solution to make sure things like this don't happen again,
38:44not just in this community, but in other river basins across the state also. So we will work to get it
38:49right. And we've jotted down, Joe, every idea that you just mentioned. Ted Cruz, go ahead, please, Ted.
38:58Well, Mr. President, I want to say thank you for being here. First Lady, thank you for being here.
39:03Where we are right now, the Hill Country, is a very special part of the state. It is universally
39:10considered the most beautiful part of the state. You've got rolling hills. You've got these incredible,
39:15peaceful, wonderful rivers. The Guadalupe River, just about all of us have been swimming in that river,
39:21floating in that river. And one of the things that's really special about Kirk County
39:25is there are 40 summer camps here. This is a place where all across Texas our kids go.
39:31The governor's daughter came every year to camp here. Both of you know our girls really well. Heidi,
39:37the week before this flood, was here in Hunt picking up our daughter Catherine from camp.
39:43And Camp Mystic that faced such devastating loss is an institution in this state. It's 100 years old.
39:53It was founded in 1926. And I'll tell you in Texas, it's not just here that the herd has felled. It's
39:59every part of the state, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, West Texas, East Texas. Texans have gone,
40:05and what's amazing is you see at the closing ceremonies of these camps, you see multiple
40:11generations. You'll see grandmothers and moms and little girls who have all gone to the same camp.
40:17And the pain that the state is feeling, and on Monday I went and walked through Camp Mystic.
40:25In the center of the camp is a cabin called the Bubble Inn, where the littlest girls were staying.
40:31And in front of the Bubble Inn are, right now, 17 small white crosses in the ground.
40:40And each cross has the name of another little girl who lost her life.
40:45And the final cross has the name of Dick Eastland, the camp director who gave his life trying to save
40:51his girls. And the water rose in that camp and in that cabin eight feet high. You can see the water
40:59line eight feet high. It blew the windows out of the cabin and it swept those girls out.
41:05I will tell you, I've never seen anything more horrible in my life. And I just sat there crying.
41:10I saw mom and dad come up to one of those crosses, drop to their knees and kiss that cross.
41:16And the mom was weeping.
41:19I also want to tell you, and you said this, you talked about unity.
41:23The way this community, the way the state is coming together is incredible. There are stories of
41:29heroism. I met a mom and dad who had a 14-year-old boy at Camp La Junta, a boys camp.
41:36Their 14-year-old son was awakened at three in the morning. The water was rising. The counselor said,
41:42let's go save the little boys. And they went down to the seven, eight, nine-year-old boys and pulled
41:46them out of their camps through the crashing water. And this mom and dad were crying. Now,
41:51their son survived. And I said, look, your son will always have this trauma. You will always have this
41:57trauma. But at the same time, your son will always know when he was 14 years old that there are little
42:03boys and one day there are men who are alive because he had the courage as a 14-year-old to risk
42:09his life to save them. And so we are grateful you're here. And I will say something Chip referenced
42:16is very true. There's a video of a school bus full of campers from Mystic after this crisis,
42:25riding past the devastation, and they are singing Christian hymns. And I promise you there's not a
42:32person here who can watch that video and not weep. Tears of sorrow, but also tears of joy. So we are
42:39grateful for the response. Governor, the first responders, everyone who's come together. And to
42:45all the moms and dads, just know we love you. The agony, my street at home, every house has a
42:53green ribbon around it for the girls at Mystic. And that's true in a lot of streets all throughout
42:58Texas. And we will come through this one way or the other. I'll tell you the Hunt Store right now,
43:03the sign says Hunt Store, except today it doesn't. It says Hunt Strong. They redid
43:08the sign. That's the spirit of who we are. Thank you, Ted, very much. Well, yes, please.
43:16I want to respond just to something that Joe Pag said and the governor.
43:20The speaker and I announced yesterday that we will begin our hearings in two weeks. But in three weeks,
43:27we're going to have a hearing in this room so that the residents and the people in this area don't
43:33have to come to Austin. We're going to come to them. And we'll stay here as long as it takes
43:38to hear their stories and their needs and their wants. So we're going to be here in three weeks
43:42in this room. Good. Very good. Well, I just want to thank everybody for coming together and the word
43:50unity again. But I just want to thank you very much. And we'll be helping you from Washington, D.C. like
43:57no other president would do. Nobody else. Nobody else would do it. Nobody else would
44:03would be even get back to you. You know, you're fully funded, as you know. And, Christy,
44:09I would say they were fully funded within minutes of hearing about this. And, you know,
44:13the state of Texas, number one, they do it right. And they've done it right for a long time.
44:18And it's, you know, a very special place to me. I will tell you that. Politically,
44:22I don't want to say politics, but politically, it's been a very special place to me. Our great
44:27secretary of agriculture, who you've done such a great job, Brooke Rollins, you come from Texas.
44:32And I just want to thank you. She even got the cost of eggs right down. You know, they hit me with
44:40that one. And she got them down so quickly. Nobody knew what it by Easter. Everybody was having eggs at
44:45a lower price than they ever thought possible. But you've done a fantastic job. But it's just
44:49been a special. It's been a very special state to me. And it's my honor. And we will continue to
44:54work together. And, well, it's a bad situation. And you can never say, oh, it's going to be bigger,
45:02better, stronger. You know, it's just so many lives have been lost. You can't say that. But we're going
45:09to make it. We're going to make it back. We're going to make it back. And we're going to make it good
45:13again. And everybody wants to do it. And I just want to thank you. And I want to congratulate you.
45:18You guys have been unbelievable. Thank you for your words before. It was unbelievable. The job you've
45:23done, Kim, everybody, every single one of you. So you should be very proud. And we're very proud of
45:28you. Thank you all very much for doing such a good job. Thank you very much.
45:35Stay where you are.
45:43Stay where you are.
45:44Stay where you are.
45:45Stay where you are.
45:47Stay where you are.
45:48Stay where you are.
45:49Stay where you are.
45:50Stay where you are.
45:51Stay where you are.
45:52Stay where you are.
45:53Stay where you are.
45:54Stay where you are.
45:55Stay where you are.
45:57Stay where you are.
45:58Stay where you are.
45:59Stay where you are.
46:00Stay where you are.
46:01Stay where you are.
46:02Stay where you are.
46:03Stay where you are.
46:04Stay where you are.
46:05Stay where you are.
46:06Stay where you are.
46:07Stay where you are.
46:08Stay where you are.
46:09Stay where you are.
46:10Stay where you are.
46:11Stay where you are.
46:12Stay where you are.
46:13Stay where you are.
46:44Thank you, Mr. President.
Recommended
1:02