We have all seen the tragic flooding in Texas that will likely have a death toll in the hundreds when all is said and done.
CNN recently reported that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s agency rules may have delayed the emergency response from FEMA.
Now, the White House and Noem are pushing back, calling it all a fake news attack on the administration and our Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Democrats in Congress have quickly latched on to this narrative that Trump’s cuts and Noem’s rules cost lives in Texas.
For instance, Noem's agency has a policy in place that any grant over $100,000 needs her personal signature, with CNN having reported that the procedure delayed FEMA from getting boots on the ground until Monday.
Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) stated, “For an administration that tries to talk about red tape, they are adding red tape here. They are adding bureaucracy. This is a terrible idea to bottleneck.”
Kim also reportedly wrote a letter to Noem, stating, “This added layer of bureaucracy threatens to delay work that could mean the difference between life and death for disaster victims, and it is unclear how FEMA will be able to comply with this directive without sacrificing its duty to protect people before, during, and after disasters.”
Noem went nuclear over the report, which was not a surprise, since she had been touting the agency's response as a perfect example of the way Trump envisioned FEMA would respond to natural disasters.
The secretary stated, "Well, there you go. Fake News. CNN again. It’s absolutely trash what they’re doing by saying that.”
Noem continued, "Our Coast Guard, our Border Patrol BORTAC (Border Patrol Tactical Unit) teams were there immediately. Every single thing they asked for, we were there."
She went on, "The governor and the emergency management director, Nim Kidd, are fantastic and nobody there has said anything about that they didn’t get everything that they wanted immediately or that they needed. And I’m proud of the work we’ve done to support that."
There is no doubt that the Coast Guard and Border Patrol were on the scene in Texas immediately, with one Coast Guard pilot credited with more than 100 saves by Monday morning, but the question was about FEMA's presence on the ground, not the Coast Guard or other entities.
Trump addressed the report of a delayed response as well, stating, “I don’t know anything about it. We were right on time."
The president went on, “We were there -- in fact, she was the first one I saw on television. She was there right from the beginning, and she would not have needed anything. She had the right to do it, but she was literally the first person I saw on television.”
The finger-pointing has also been going on at a local level, with nobody willing to step up to take the blame for failing to get these people out of harm’s way. Dems are not going to let this go, as they are hoping to use this against Trump and the GOP in the upcoming election cycle. They are treating this like they do a mass shooting… It’s a political opportunity to Democrats, not a tragedy worthy of any empathy.