White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says Democrats who are politicizing the Texas floods that have killing at least 89 people are “depraved and despicable.”
Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls on Texas’ Guadalupe River, has confirmed that 27 campers and counselors died in flash floods over the weekend. The search continues for 10 campers and one counselor.
Some members of the Left have blamed President Donald Trump’s cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service for the casualties.
“Those comments are depraved and despicable, especially when so many Americans are mourning the loss of their children,” Leavitt said. “The National Weather Service, as I said, did its job. Many experts, many meteorologists, have said that.”
“Unfortunately, not all, but many Democrat elected officials are trying to turn this into a political game, and it is not,” she added. “This is a national tragedy, and the administration is treating it as such.”
The National Weather Service provided early and consistent warnings leading up to the catastrophe, Leavitt said. She said the weather service offices in the surrounding areas were fully staffed with no vacancies.
“This was a once-in-a-century flash flood, a tragic natural disaster,” the presidential spokeswoman said, “and the administration is doing all that we can on the ground to help these families.”
One reporter asked why flood warnings were sent in the middle of the night when people were sleeping. Leavitt said that was because the flood hit in the early hours of the morning.
“It’s not the administration’s fault that the flood hit when it did, but there were early and consistent warnings, and again, the National Weather Service did its job,” she added.