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President Trump and first lady Melania Trump will visit west-central Texas today to pledge support to families of flood victims and officials who continue to search for at least 170 people missing amid a catastrophe that killed more than 120, including children.
The president, who declared a major disaster in Texas to unlock federal funds for debris removal, search and rescue efforts and backing for those who lost their homes, will meet with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and receive a briefing from local officials, the White House said.
The event in Kerrville, Texas, will include Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
The trip marks the third visit by Trump to an area impacted by a major disaster during his second term.
Days after his inauguration, the president visited Hurricane Helene damage in North Carolina and the aftermath of California’s wildfires. During his campaign, Trump’s support for disaster victims in the Tar Heel State won him election-year applause.
In January, Trump criticized the Biden administration’s disaster responses, using his first travel as president to blast the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
“FEMA has been a very big disappointment,” he said at the time. “It’s very bureaucratic. And it’s very slow.”
Nearly six months later, Trump is hearing similar assessments, this time aimed at his administration.
The president, speaking by phone with NBC News on Thursday, defended the federal response in Texas and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees FEMA.
“We were right on time. We were there — in fact, she was the first one I saw on television,” he said.
The Trump administration for months has weighed plans to revamp how the federal government handles natural disasters.
The president continues to insist he will shutter or overhaul FEMA, but has dodged reporters’ questions and declined to be specific.
Abbott heaped praise on Trump this week, despite the president’s long-running vow to push states to shoulder more costs and responsibility associated with preventing and responding to weather-related losses.
WAITING ON WASHINGTON: State and local officials nationwide are waiting for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FEMA to unlock more than $2 billion in grant funds approved by Congress that support emergency responses, border security, disaster mitigation projects and antiterrorism efforts, The New York Times reports. They’ve been waiting for months to see necessary applications to get started.
Noem — a former South Dakota governor who previously avoided taking available federal grants for her state because of “strings” attached — recently “directed DHS to implement additional controls to ensure that all grant money going out is consistent with law and does not go to fraud, waste or abuse, as in the past. The open borders gravy train is over,” a department spokesperson told the Times.
FEMA cut $325 million in grants for New York, much of it destined for essential flood mitigation efforts in the nation’s largest city.
Trump has complained that cities and states led by Democrats waste or abuse federal support. He initially clashed with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) during the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles, suggesting his state mismanaged its water release program and that federal emergency funds might hinge on whether Newsom backed voter ID, a separate policy dispute.
Newsom refuted Trump’s complaints and later announced that California received more than $2 billion from Washington to help recover from the fires.
States traditionally have counted on FEMA to cover at least 75 percent of declared major disaster response and recovery costs. In just the past few months, FEMA has denied federal assistance for devastating floods in West Virginia and a destructive windstorm in Washington state, ProPublica reported.
The agency approved disaster funding after deadly tornadoes roared through Arkansas earlier this year. But Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), Trump’s former White House press secretary during his first term and the daughter of his ambassador to Israel, had to formally appeal the initial FEMA denial for funds and opted to pitch the president by phone.
Bryan Fisher, director of Alaska’s homeland security and emergency management agency, has advised local officials they will likely need to find ways other than federal grants to pay employees who help Alaskans affected by recent wildfires, the Times reported. Fisher says transitioning to expanded state and local responsibility for emergency planning and response takes time.
“I’m pretty impatient and frustrated,” he told the newspaper. “It certainly doesn’t make any sense to any of us. I think every state will tell you we’re ready to apply for these funds and administer them like we always do.”
DEFENDING TEXAS RESPONSE: Noem on Thursday denied a report that some federal help to Texas was delayed by her department’s bureaucratic hurdles until Monday, days after the Guadalupe River became a deadly torrent during heavy rains overnight on July 4.
“Our Coast Guard, our Border Patrol BORTAC [Border Patrol Tactical Unit] teams were there immediately,” she told “Fox & Friends,” calling a CNN report about bureaucratic obstacles “trash.”
Noem signed several contracts for the Texas flood disaster late Thursday, including a $1.6 million obligation for housing inspection services, as well as a call center and mental health services, The Washington Post reported.
“Every single thing they asked for [in Texas], we were there,” the secretary told Fox News. Abbott and Texas Emergency Management Director Nim Kidd, she continued, “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.”
Kidd interviewed with the White House for the FEMA administrator job in February before withdrawing his name when his interest was reported.
Editor’s note: Blake Burman’s Smart Take is off today and will return next week.
3 Things to Know Today
- An overhaul of the U.S. diplomatic corps and hundreds of job cuts are imminent, the State Department told its workforce on Thursday.
- Here’s what flood insurance does and does not cover.
- The S&P 500 hit a record high on Thursday. Here’s why.
Leading the Day
TARIFFS: Trump announced Thursday that his administration would impose a 35 percent tariff on all Canadian goods beginning next month. In a letter sent to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the president argued Canada has not done enough to curb the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.
“If Canada works with me to stop the flow of Fentanyl, we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter,” Trump wrote to Carney. “These Tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country.”
Relatively little fentanyl crosses the northern border each year compared with the southern border, but the letter marks the latest escalation in the president’s zig-zagging push to negotiate new trade deals with top U.S. economic partners.
A White House official said an exemption for goods that comply with the nations’ free-trade agreement would still apply, though that could change.
The U.S. and Canada had been involved in talks to lower tariffs ahead of a self-imposed July 21 deadline. After Canada considered a “digital services tax” that would have applied to American firms, Trump threatened to end all trade discussions. Ottawa ultimately withdrew the tax.
Now, a Canadian government official told The Wall Street Journal that the country was growing increasingly resigned to a future deal that includes some tariffs.
Carney handily led the Liberal Party to victory in April on a platform asserting Canada’s independence and strength amid annexation threats. Trump has for months railed against Canada, claiming the U.S. has no need for Canadian goods and musing about making Canada the 51st state.
Canadian leaders have flatly rejected that suggestion, with Carney asserting the two nations work better together as partners.
In response to Trump’s letter, the prime minister said in a post on the social platform X that Canada is “committed to continuing to work with the United States to save lives and protect communities in both our countries.”
This week, Trump has posted letters to more than a dozen countries vowing to impose steep tariffs on their imports starting Aug. 1. The president told NBC News he plans to impose blanket tariffs of 15 percent or 20 percent on most trade partners, dismissing concerns that further tariffs could negatively impact markets or spike inflation.
“Not everybody has to get a letter,” Trump said. “You know that. We’re just setting our tariffs.”
Politico: Vietnam thought it had a deal on its U.S. tariff rate. Then Trump stepped in.
COURTS: A federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship for any children whose citizenship status would be at risk if the order went into effect. U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, agreed to grant class-action status to a lawsuit challenging the order — meaning children beyond the plaintiffs are protected by the preliminary injunction.
The maneuver comes after the Supreme Court curtailed judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions against Trump’s policies but left open a door for challengers to try to seek broad relief by filing class-action lawsuits. Laplante described his decision to issue a preliminary injunction as “not a close call,” suggesting the deprivation of U.S. citizenship qualifies as irreparable harm.
NBC News: Trump’s immigration enforcement record so far: High arrests, low deportations.
CONGRESS: The House returns to work next week and joins the Senate in wrangling over a pending Russia sanctions measure with which top Republicans want to send a tough message to Moscow. The president says he’s interested — if he gets to make the ultimate sanctions decisions. The measure has 85 backers in the Senate, including 42 Democrats, Politico reports.
“They’re going to pass a very major and very biting sanctions bill, but it’s up to the president as to whether or not he wants to exercise it,” Trump told NBC on Thursday.
Senate Republicans have also gone back and forth over whether to back Trump’s request to rescind $9.4 billion in funding already approved by Congress, including foreign aid and a claw-back of $1 billion from public broadcasting. The deadline is July 18, and Trump warned on Thursday that he would not back any GOP candidate who won’t defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) can lose no more than three GOP senators and there were internal disagreements this week. The contents of a rescissions bill and the whip count are up in the air.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), opposed to the Trump-backed rescissions, this week threatened to shut down the government in September if Republicans pull back funds Democrats support and Congress previously blessed.
“If Republicans cave to Donald Trump and gut these investments agreed to by both parties, that would be an affront — a huge affront — to the bipartisan appropriations process,” Schumer said.
“It is absurd to expect Democrats to play along with funding the government if Republicans are just going to renege on a bipartisan agreement by concocting rescissions packages behind closed doors that can pass with only their votes,” he added.
ALSO ON CAPITOL HILL: The Senate Appropriations Committee met Thursday morning for its first markup of the fiscal 2026 funding season. Committee members considered three of the 12 annual spending bills but sputtered when addressing the Justice Department funding bill. Senators hit a snag over the Trump administration’s plans to relocate the FBI’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“If it stays in there, it’ll tank the bill,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said of the proposal, while describing the measure as a “poison pill.”
GOP lawmakers are raising questions about Trump’s defense team amid reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby unilaterally decided to pause weapons shipments to Ukraine, something Trump said he would reverse earlier this week. The prospect of senior Pentagon officials acting without the green light is troubling to Republican senators who are preparing to bring Russia sanctions legislation to the floor this month.
DEPORTATION: A senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official on Thursday testified under oath that the agency has not yet decided where Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man wrongfully deported to El Salvador earlier this year, would be deported if he is released from criminal custody next week.
Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States last month. He has been detained on human smuggling charges since his return, but he could be released ahead of his trial as soon as Wednesday.
Former Justice Department lawyer Erez Reuveni accused the Trump administration of “thumbing its nose at the courts,” saying his former colleagues were being forced to choose between the president’s agenda and their ethical obligations as attorneys.
In an interview with The New York Times, Reuveni, who filed a detailed whistle-blower claim to the Senate last month, shared his growing sense of alarm as he defended the administration’s aggressive deportation agenda.
Reuveni was fired in April; he was accused of refusing a superior’s directive after he appeared in court to defend the administration’s mistaken deportation of Abrego Garcia.
The Hill: Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) continued to distance himself from the progressive wing of his party on Thursday with a social media post defending Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Where and When
- The president and first lady Melania Trump will depart the White House at 9:30 a.m. to fly to Kerrville, Texas, to meet at 2:10 p.m. local time with officials, responders and community leaders focused on the deadly July 4 flood disaster. They will be in Texas for about an hour before departing for Bedminster, N.J., where they will arrive tonight.
- The House convenes at noon on Monday.
- The Senate will meet at 3 p.m. on Monday.
Zoom In
FARM WORKERS: The Trump administration has faced complaints from the agriculture industry in recent weeks that massive immigration raids have disrupted businesses. Many farms rely upon migrant workers, including workers without legal immigration status.
In Northern California’s Central Valley, where many farmers voted for Trump and expected him to protect their workers, the raids came as a shock, according to The New York Times.
“I would love to just call a general strike,” Vernon, a plum farmer, told the Times. “Let’s just quit feeding America for one week!”
Trump acknowledged concerns among the agriculture and hospitality industries that his administration’s crackdown was taking away workers key to those businesses, which led to a pause in enforcement at farms, hotels and other locations. But days later, the administration seemed to reverse course.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday suggested Medicaid recipients could replace farmworkers. Her comments were met with swift pushback from the agriculture industry.
“There will be no amnesty. The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way,” she said. “And we move the workforce towards automation and 100 percent American participation, which, again, with 34 million people, able-bodied adults on Medicaid, we should be able to do that fairly quickly.”
Trump on Tuesday said he would not provide an “amnesty” program that would offer help to farms and migrant farm workers, but he did announce a new program intended to support the agriculture industry. It’s not entirely clear what the program would do, but Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said her agency “developed a new office to answer the need of our farmers and ranchers and producers.”
The president last week signaled deference to farmers who employ migrants without legal status, saying “they know better” in a speech at a “Salute to America” event in Des Moines, Iowa. He also indicated during his speech that his administration is working on legislation that would permit some migrants without authorization to stay in the country and keep working on farms.
Politico: “I really feel for her”: Rollins’s impossible Trump administration mandate.
CPR: Trump administration canceled millions in agriculture funding for Western states.
The Hill: The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against California, alleging that three state laws are the reason behind rising egg prices in the Golden State.
TRUMP PUT HIMSELF AT ODDS with his MAGA base with recent moves on foreign policy, immigration and the Jeffrey Epstein case that have appeared to irk some of his most loyal supporters. The president maintains a firm grip on the MAGA movement that boosted him to office and experts forecast it’s unlikely that the current frustration will have a lasting fallout for Trump. But some suggest the upset could pose a potential headache for the broader Republican Party as the midterms approach.
“A lot of these issues are marginal issues, maybe even fringe issues,” said GOP strategist Matt Bartlett. “Let’s remember that a lot of our elections, whether they’re House or maybe even president, are determined on the margins.”
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton (R) filed for divorce from state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) on Thursday. The development comes as Ken Paxton is challenging incumbent Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) for his seat in a closely watched primary.
In the divorce filing, Angela Paxton accused her husband of adultery and noted the couple ceased living together in June 2024. Ken Paxton has served as state attorney general since 2015. He was impeached in 2023 and faced allegations of corruption and taking part in an extramarital affair.
The Hill: Trump met with Thune on Wednesday evening to talk about Senate races, including Cornyn’s fraught primary against Paxton.
The Hill: The Democratic Party’s credibility with voters has plummeted even further since the 2024 election, a new poll shows, raising alarm bells ahead of the midterms.
The Hill: Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-Ga.) campaign announced Thursday it raised more than $10 million in the second quarter of fundraising this cycle, ending the quarter with $15.5 million cash on hand. The vulnerable Democrat is vying for a second term.
Elsewhere
UKRAINE: Russia launched another major drone and missile strike on Kyiv early Thursday, as Trump ramps up criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the continued onslaught.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on the social platform X that the latest attack “is a clear escalation of terror by Russia — hundreds of ‘shaheds’ every night, constant strikes, and massive attacks on Ukrainian cities. Such Russian attacks must be met with a tough response. And that is exactly what we will deliver.”
Trump earlier this week restarted a dispatch of previously authorized defensive weapons to Ukraine. And Axios reports that Trump is planning to sell weapons to NATO allies, with the understanding they will then provide them to Kyiv — a further shift in the president’s policies as he continues to criticize Putin.
The move comes after Zelensky spoke with allies at a Thursday summit in Rome about additional funding for interceptor drones and air defense systems for his country. He also called for further sanctions on Moscow.
Bloomberg News: Trump said Thursday he will make a “major statement” concerning Russia on Monday, but did not elaborate.
The New York Times: Trump seems to be warming to what Europe wants for Ukraine: New Russia sanctions.
The Associated Press: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the U.S. and Russia exchanged new ideas for Ukraine peace talks.
ISRAEL: Five days of negotiations in Qatar and two meetings in Washington between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not yield a ceasefire agreement for Gaza. At the start of the week, the Trump administration sounded optimistic that a deal could be done as soon as the weekend. But on Wednesday evening, a senior Israeli official said it could still take 20 more days.
Following discussions with the European Union, which has pressed Israel to ease the dire humanitarian conditions for Palestinians in Gaza, Israel will allow more aid to enter the enclave.
The Wall Street Journal: Israel’s military lawyers are raising concerns about a new plan to move hundreds of thousands of Gazans.
IRAN: Some of Tehran’s near-weapons-grade enriched uranium survived last month’s U.S. and Israeli attacks and may be accessible to Iranian nuclear engineers, The New York Times reports. What remains unknown is how fast Iran could reproduce the facilities it has lost.
Opinion
- Decapitating the National Security Council leads to foreign policy chaos, by Max Boot, columnist, The Washington Post.
- The birthright citizenship order is halted — again, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.
The Closer
And finally … Congratulations to this week’s Morning Report Quiz winners! Whether Googling or guessing, readers recognized the faux, the fabricated and fakes.
Here’s who went 4/4: Jenessa Wagner, Lynn Gardner, Pam Manges, Michael McGinnis, Marcia Gatlin, Rick Schmidtke, Linda L. Field, Harry Strulovici, Brian Hogan, Michael B. Kitz, Chuck Schoenenberger, Jess Elger, Sari Wisch, Stan Wasser, Alan Johnson, Karen Mitchoff, Stanton Kirk, William D. Moore, Mark R. Williamson, Steve James, Elizabeth Prystas, JA Ramos, Carmine Petracca, Savannah Petracca and Arturo Jessel.
Readers knew that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was impersonated using artificial intelligence (AI) on Signal by someone now being sought by authorities, according to reports this week.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was the victim in 2019 as Speaker of a deepfake video manipulated to suggest she was intoxicated. It attracted 3 million views on Facebook.
In April, the FBI raided and prosecutors soon indicted a Miami art dealer who allegedly sold faked Andy Warhol creations.
In May, Trump took aim at nonconsensual intimate imagery published online (including deepfakes generated with AI) by signing the TAKE IT DOWN Act.
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