President Donald Trump on Friday held a news conference in Kerrville, Texas, regarding the disastrous flash flooding that has ravaged the state since July 4, only to call a reporter “evil” for asking if more timely federal emergency alerts could have saved additional lives.
“Several families we heard from are obviously upset because they say those warnings, those alerts didn’t go out in time, and they also say that people could have been saved,” said a reporter from CBS News Texas. “What do you say to those families?”
“I think everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances,” Trump replied. “This was, I guess [Department of Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi [Noem] said a one-in-500, one-in-1,000 years [disaster]. I just have admiration for the job that everybody did.”
The flooding has devastated Central Texas. Authorities have confirmed at least 120 deaths across six counties and that at least 170 people remain missing. Kerr County’s Joint Information Center reportedly confirmed that 36 people who died there were children.
The National Weather Service said it issued two flood warnings overnight before the disaster hit.
Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr. told CNN he “didn’t even have a warning,” noting that around 8 p.m. on Friday he only saw a forecast for a “chance of rain.” He added that he lost two friends to the floods.
Trump nonetheless went on to tear into the reporter for asking him about impacted families.
“Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you,” he continued during the exchange Friday. “I don’t know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that. I think this has been heroism. This has been incredible.”
Reporter: Several families are upset because they’re saying the alerts didn’t go out in time. What do you say to those families?
Trump: I think everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances… Only an evil person would ask a question like that pic.twitter.com/TZNJPxsJ0U
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 11, 2025
The flooding was caused by heavy downpour that made the Guadalupe River rise some 26 feet in less than an hour. The New York Times reported Saturday that the National Weather Service in San Antonio and San Angelo had significant vacancies when the storm hit.
Trump slashed roughly 600 positions at the government agency earlier this year.
“It’s easy to ask, to sit back and ask, ‘What could have happened here or there? Maybe we could have done something differently,’” Trump said Friday after scolding the CBS News reporter. “This was a thing that’s never happened before.”
Trump was far more gracious after hearing from a reporter from conservative outlet Real America’s Voice, who thanked the president and other representatives at the event for their response to the disaster, and said: “Well, that’s a nice reporter. That’s a nice question.”