Very evil individual: Trump slams reporter for questioning Texas flood warning delays
US President Donald Trump’s tour of flood-ravaged Texas turned confrontational on Friday when he lashed out at a journalist who requested whether or not extra well timed alerts might have saved lives calling the reporter a “very evil individual” for elevating the difficulty.
Trump first responded by saying that he thought “everybody did an unbelievable job below the circumstances,” and that he admired the response.
However then he criticised the reporter who posed the query, saying “solely a foul individual would ask a query like that” and “solely a really evil individual would ask a query like that.”
The biting change got here as Trump praised first responders and native leaders at an emergency operations centre arrange in Kerrville, whilst those self same officers confronted scrutiny over their catastrophe preparedness.
“Everybody did an unbelievable job below the circumstances,” Trump mentioned. “The folks which can be doing the seek for the lacking are unbelievable.”
The president then shifted to a friendlier query from a conservative outlet, Actual America’s Voice, whose reporter expressed gratitude for his go to.
“Nicely, that’s a pleasant reporter. That’s a pleasant query,” Trump mentioned, flashing a smile and avoiding additional point out of the controversy.
Critics have questioned whether or not communities got satisfactory time to evacuate because the floodwaters surged.
Trump talked concerning the lack of life from the flooding, saying “dozens and dozens of valuable kids taken from us.” “The seek for the lacking continues. The folks which can be doing it are unbelievable,” Trump instructed first responders and different state and native officers gathered at an emergency operations heart in an expo corridor in Kerrville. “You couldn’t get higher folks, and so they’re doing the job like I don’t suppose anyone else might, frankly,” Trump mentioned.
The president mentioned his administration “is doing every thing it may possibly to assist Texas” and insisted that “we’ve received some good folks” operating the Federal Emergency Administration Company.
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