THE CATCH-UP
ON THE GROUND IN TEXAS: President Donald Trump is in Kerrville, Texas, today surveying destruction from the deadly flooding last weekend. He’ll meet with first responders and local officials at 2:10 p.m. “A horrible thing,” Trump told reporters this morning, adding he’ll be joined in Texas by “some of the great families and others — the governors, everybody.”
Trump’s trip to Texas is a chance for Trump to tout the local search and rescue teams, “in a show of solidarity aimed at quelling criticism and emphasizing the White House’s close coordination with Texas officials,” CNN’s Adam Cancryn reports.
“It’s a no-brainer – you go out there and you let people know you care about them,” a person close to the White House told CNN. “Trump does not want to see things like this happen on his watch. And he views himself as a fixer.”
Joining him are first lady Melania Trump, Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, HUD Secretary Scott Turner and SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, among others.
Ahead of the visit, Trump granted Texas’ request to extend the major disaster declaration to eight other counties so they can receive financial assistance, per AP’s Sean Murphy and Will Weissert. As it stands now, over 170 people are still missing, and at least 121 people have been confirmed dead, per CBS.
Looming over Texas is a political tug-of-war over the fate of disaster response, with the Trump administration getting slammed over cuts to key agencies like NOAA and NWS — though there is no evidence that the Trump administration’s cuts directly affected the response last week. Groups like Defend America Action are already blasting the visit, saying Trump “systematically weakened and dismantled” the agencies responsible. A group of House Democrats, backed by newly minted Oversight ranking member Robert Garcia, sent a letter today to FEMA demanding answers on “the apparent delay in FEMA’s response efforts caused by the politicization of the agency.”
“FEMA has $13 billion in its reserves right now to continue to pay for the necessary expenses,” OMB Director Russ Vought told reporters this morning. He added that they “want FEMA to be reformed. We want FEMA to work well … the president is going to continue to be asking tough questions of all of his agencies.”
But FEMA may not be axed after all. WaPo’s Natalie Allison reports this morning that “administration officials say abolishing the agency outright is not on the agenda” and nothing has been done yet to get rid of it. The changes to FEMA will more likely be a “rebranding” that emphasizes responses at the state level.
The back-and-forth over FEMA’s future is permeated by growing stories of how the tragedy in Texas, including the deaths of 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, could have been avoided. A must-read today from CNN’s Curt Devine and Casey Tolan reveals how the camp’s director Dick Eastland — who died in the flood — warned for decades about the potential for danger. He rallied support for a new flood warning system in the ’80s, but it shut down in 1999 because it wasn’t reliable anymore. Another big read from The New Yorker’s Rachel Monroe goes inside the response of a volunteer fire department in Hunt, an unincorporated community north of Kerrville.
And it’s not just Texas — there’ve been 550 reports of flooding this week, which include North Carolina and New Mexico, too. It’s not stopping this weekend either, with the highest flood risk today being in the Midwest and then back to the South tomorrow, WaPo’s Ben Noll reports.
Expect to hear more about the White House’s response from Trump at 4 p.m., when Fox News is set to air an interview with the president from Texas on “The Will Cain Show.”
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8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
1. CUTTING DEEP: The White House is plowing ahead telling agencies to make good on their reduction-in-workforce plans, with Reuters’ Nandita Bose reporting that downsizing is an “immediate priority.” But while they anticipate some legal challenges, the White House Counsel’s Office and OPM are “scrutinizing layoff plans by federal agencies in an effort to limit further court challenges,” making sure everything is “legally sound.”
The latest round: The State Department is set to lay off over a thousand federal workers and 246 foreign service officers this morning via email, fully realizing the reorganization plan that was on pause before the Supreme Court ruled on the future for the mass layoffs, AP’s Matthew Lee writes.
Recissions watch: Trump threatened Republicans with withholding his all-important endorsement if they don’t move the White House’s spending cuts package forward through the Senate, WSJ’s Lindsay Wise and colleagues report. But the administration is optimistic that Republicans with concerns will still get the cuts codified. “I am confident that they will pass the bill,” OMB Director Russ Vought told reporters earlier today, calling the bill a “huge pivot point in how this town does business.”
2. DEAL OR NO DEAL: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu left Washington today without a ceasefire deal in Gaza, following Trump and special envoy Steve Witkoff repeatedly saying a deal could be reached by the week’s end. It’s a disappointment for Trump as he casts himself as the ultimate peacemaker, AP’s Michelle Price and Joseph Krauss write. “It’s unclear how much pressure Trump put on Netanyahu in their private talks this week. But the two leaders came into the visit seeming more aligned than ever — at least for now.”
New bombshell investigation: NYT’s Patrick Kingsley, Ronen Bergman and Natan Odenheimer spoke to more than 110 officials in Israel, the US and the Middle East on how Netanyahu found a second wind in his political career and ultimately helped prolong the war in Gaza. Among the takeaways: Netanyahu ignored warning signs about a possible attack in October 2023, then threw blame on Israel’s defense ministry after Oct. 7. He dragged out negotiations and declined forming a unity government after the attack. And he walked away from an Israeli-Saudi peace deal in May 2024.
3. MR. WORLDWIDE: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is back from a 36-hour turn in Southeast Asia, but the U.S. allies weren’t totally satisfied in addressing their biggest concerns on tariffs and global security, per WSJ’s Vera Bergengruen and Chun Han Wong. “Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim joked about his desire to get more of Rubio’s time … ‘Can I take his passport away?’” Among Rubio’s many meetings was one with China. His conversation with China’s foreign minister centered on trade and was “very constructive,” Rubio said. He added that “odds are high” that a summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will happen possibly later this year, per Bloomberg.
Back to Southeast Asia: “I would say distraction is impossible,” Rubio said in remarks, emphasizing the importance of U.S. allies in the region. On trade, “I would say that when all is said and done, many of the countries in Southeast Asia are going to have tariff rates that are actually better than countries in other parts of the world.”
4. SPEAKING OF TARIFFS: The decision to levy massive tariffs on Brazil over the trial of disgraced President Jair Bolsonaro was Trump’s, but Eduardo Bolsonaro has been lobbying Trump in the White House on his father’s behalf since March, NYT’s Jack Nicas and Ana Ionova report. Trump left open what comes next, telling reporters this morning that “maybe at some point I’ll talk to [Brazil].” … Canada’s economy appears undeterred by Trump’s tariffs, posting its best jobs report in six months and a slight drop in its unemployment rate, per Bloomberg’s Randy Thanthong-Knight. … Meanwhile, despite a “deal” in place, Vietnam is still hoping to lower its tariff rate from 20 percent, Bloomberg’s Francesca Stevens and colleagues write.
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5. RUSSIA-UKRAINE LATEST: Trump is continuing to tease an announcement on Russia on Monday, telling reporters this morning that “you’ll be seeing things happen” with no other details. Rubio shared Trump’s “disappointment and frustration” over Russian President Vladimir Putin in a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, yesterday in Malaysia, CNN’s Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler report this morning. “We understand that these things take time and patience, but obviously we’re also frustrated that more progress has not been made,” Rubio told reporters after the meeting. Meanwhile, Russia is still hammering Ukraine with drones in overnight attacks, per AP.
6. BONDI VS. BONGINO: “FBI’s Dan Bongino clashes with AG Bondi over handling of Epstein files,” by Axios’ Marc Caputo: “Bongino didn’t come to work Friday, leading some insiders to believe he had quit. But administration officials say he’s still on the job, even as the internal tension over the Epstein case continues. … After the video’s ‘missing minute’ was discovered, Bongino was blamed internally for the oversight, according to three sources. … ‘Bongino found the video with the missing minute. He vouched for it after a ‘thorough review,’ he said, and he thought this would end the matter. When that didn’t work, he lost his mind and ran out of D.C.’”
7. IMMIGRATION FILES: Despite the Trump administration’s continued mass deportation campaign, new polling from Gallup out this morning finds record-high support for immigration, with 79 percent saying immigration is a good thing. The share of Americans wanting immigration reduced dropped from 55 percent in 2024 to 30 percent in the latest poll. Trump’s also raking in a 62 percent disapproval on his handling of immigration policy. More from POLITICO’s Gigi Ewing
The amnesty debate: The Trump administration is “launching a program to streamline issuing visas for temporary, migrant workers,” Caputo reports. The Department of Labor “has created the Office of Immigration Policy. It’s designed to be a red-tape-cutting, one-stop shop to help employers get faster approval for temporary worker visas for noncitizen labor.” Says an administration official: “This is not amnesty. It’s not amnesty lite. … No one who is illegally here is being given a pathway to citizenship or residency.”
Related read: “E-Verify, a System to Flag Illegal Migrant Labor, Has Holes,” by WSJ’s Paul Kiernan and Robert McMillan
8. SCHOOL DAZE: “The Trump staffers who set out to reshape their alma maters,” by WaPo’s Emily Davies and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff: “Driven by personal experience, the staffers are pushing to overhaul the progressive culture they feel has come to dominate elite colleges and universities. … Interviews with the Trump staffers and a dozen people who studied alongside them paint a picture of a powerful cohort that believes they are restoring a version of American culture.”
A message from American Beverage:
America’s beverage companies are making it easier than ever to find transparent information about the ingredients in your favorite beverages. Learn more at GoodToKnowFacts.org.
TALK OF THE TOWN
Dan Balz is retiring from full-time work at the Washington Post after 47 years.
Pete Hegseth received the “Secretary of War” moniker from Trump in a Truth Social post today.
Barack Obama is joining Ken Martin for a high-dollar fundraiser in Red Bank, New Jersey tonight.
THE WORLD’S A STAGE — A stage production in London is reenacting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, per WaPo’s Karla Adam. “The unusual project — part tabletop strategy game, part thought-provoking political experiment — was meant to debut in the United States. But after President Donald Trump’s election victory last fall, the team behind it pivoted to London.”
MEDIAWATCH — Hearst has acquired the DallasNews Corporation, the holding company for The Dallas Morning News.
TREASURY DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Julia Hahn is leaving the Treasury Department, where she has been assistant secretary for public affairs. Hahn, who served all four years in the first Trump White House, plans to do communications consulting in the private sector. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Playbook that she has been “a fierce advocate for President Trump’s America First agenda.”
TRANSITION — Liam Goodwin is now director of policy at the Flex Association. He previously was director of client services at the Hawthorn Group.
