The White House and Republican Senator Ted Cruz defended the National Meteorological Service and accused some Democrats from playing politics following the devastating floods in Texas.
“I think this is not a time to point out with partisan fingers and attacks,” Cruz said at a press conference with local officials in Kerr County on Monday morning.
The White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, began her information about the offensive, calling those who have questioned whether Federal cuts the NWS personnel levels or prognosis skills as the tragedy was developed.
“Unfortunately, following this natural disaster once in a generation, we have seen many falsehoods pushed by Democrats such as Senator Chuck Schumer and some media members,” Leavitt said. “To blame President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and has no purpose during this national grieving time.”
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, speaks during the daily informative session in the Brady Information Hall of the White House in Washington, on July 7, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Schumer, the main Senate Democrat, requested an investigation into whether the cuts made to NWS in the administration had some correlation with the level of devastation.
“After the disastrous and deeply devastating sudden floods in Texas this weekend, I write to urge it to immediately open an investigation into the scope, amplitude and ramifications of whether the shortage of personnel in the key stations of the local weather service (NWS) contributed to the general loss of life and property of life in the department of lives and property ownership.
At least 94 people, including more than two dozen children, are dead after heavy rains caused sudden floods in Texas.
The Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration told ABC News that NWS planned additional staff at the NWS Austin/San Antonio office before the event. The local office had five NWS employees working compared to the two that would normally be scheduled.
In a statement to ABC News, the NWS stressed that they gave informative sessions to emergency management the day before the tragic event and mentioned some alert delivery times.
“The National Meteorological Service is disconsolate by the tragic loss of lives in Kerr Count July, which gave flood passengers more than three hours before flood certifications.
Leavitt, from the podium on Monday, crossed the specific timeline of the alerts sent by the NWS and emphasized the additional staff instead at the NWS Austin/San Antonio office.
He pointed out that the office issued an flood clock at 1:18 pm on Thursday, July 3. Then, a sudden flood warning was issued for flag and Kerr counties at 1:14 am on Friday, July 4, which was updated with more serious warnings at 3:35 am.
“Then, for anyone who has deliberately lied about these facts that surround this catastrophic event, you should be deeply ashamed,” he said.
Leavitt was asked on Monday why the warnings were sent at a time when people were probably asleep and what, if something, the administration is doing to ensure that these alerts leave before in the future.
“This was an act of God, it is not the fault of the administration that the flood hit when it did, but there were early and consistent warnings,” Leavitt said. “And again, the National Meteorological Service did its job.”
Cruz, at the local press conference in Texas, retreated NWS’s claims, but said there would be a “retrospection period” after immediate recovery efforts to analyze what happened and what went wrong.
“Following each tragedy, there are things that are predictable,” Cruz said. “One of the things that is predictable is to see some people participate, I believe, in partisan games, and trying to blame their political opponents for a natural disaster. And you see it with a hurricane, with a tornado, with a forest fire, with this flood, where people immediately say:” Well, the hurricane is the fault of Donald Trump. ” ridiculous, and I think this is not a time to point out with partisan fingers and attacks. “
“Now, after going through the search and rescue, after we go through the reconstruction process, naturally there will be a period of retrospection in which you look back and say: ‘It’s okay, what happened exactly, what was the timeline and what could have been done differently to avoid this loss of life?’ And that is a natural process, “Cruz added. “I think it should not happen in a bitter and partisan sense, but it should happen in a reasonable sense of saying, what lessons can we learn?”
Senator Ted Cruz speaks at a press conference in Kerr County, Texas, on July 7, 2025.
ABC News
President Trump still plans to visit Texas on Friday, said the White House, although the plans are not yet finished.
Trump was asked about NWS on Sunday if I was going to investigate whether the cuts in NWS left the key positions vacant.
“No, no. They didn’t,” Trump said.
Trump then tried to blame former President Joe Biden, his predecessor of the office oval, before walking the comment again.
“I will tell you: if you look that, what a situation is. That was really the Biden configuration. That was not our configuration. But I would not blame Biden either. I would only say that this is a catastrophe of hundreds of years, and it is so horrible to see,” Trump said.
Mariam Khan and Matthew Glasser of ABC News contributed to this report.
