Trump Follows Abbott Lead with Berating
of Reporter as Evil for Question on Flood Capitol Inside
July 11, 2025
President Donald Trump took a nasty shot at a female journalist in Texas on Friday in an attempt to duck questions on the lack of warnings for the public before a monstrous flood a week ago in the Hill Country where the death toll could skyrocket beyond the 300 mark.
The reporter from CBS Texas asked the president how he would responded to claims from families who say that fewer people would have died if alerts had gone out in a more timely fashion. Trump refused to answer the question and lit into its source.
"Well, I think everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances,” Trump said before getting personal. "Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you. I don’t know who you are. But only a very evil person would ask a question like that.”
Trump traveled to Texas to tour with the flood-ravaged area with his wife Melania. He appeared with Governor Greg Abbott at a press conference in Kerrville where he took a page from a playbook the state's top leader used to dodge a question from the press on potential culpability on Wednesday in Hunt.
Abbott responded to the inquiry by attacking the messenger with a strange football analogy that culminated with an insinuation that people who question what went wrong and why are losers. Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Austin endorsed Abbott's conclusion as a participant this afternoon in the media briefing with Trump.
“For all of the media clamoring to ask that ridiculous first question and try to point fingers, the governor said it best when he said pointing fingers is for losers,” Roy said.
Trump warned against the temptation to play arm-chair quarterback on an event that's unprecedented. “It’s easy to sit back and say - oh what could have happened here or there, you know?" the president added. "Maybe we could have done something differently?’ This was a thing that has never happened before."
Here's a sample from an ever-growing list of media reports on the subject that Trump and the governor refused to discuss and berated reporters for bringing up.
STATE
Texas Repeatedly Rejected Funding
TDEM Denied Flood Alarm Funding
Texas Officials Give Few Details
Texas Lawmakers Face Scrutiny
FEDERAL
Trump Backs Off FEMA Abolishment
Trump Tries to Avoid Flood Criticism
DHS Budget Limits Delayed Response
FEMA Missed Camp Mystic Flood Risks
FEMA Leader is No Show at Texas Floods
White House Says FEMA Has Funds
LOCAL
County Did Not Use Top Alert System
County Warned of Flood 8 Years Ago
County Avoids Questions on Timeline
Was Emergency Alert Worker Awake?
County Flagged Need for Flood Alarm
Internal County Report Predicted Flood
Sheriff Under Fire on Flood Warnings
Officials Yet to Explain Who Did What
more to come ...
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