The Latest: Trump lands in Texas to survey flood damage

President Donald Trump has landed in Texas for a firsthand look at the devastation caused by catastrophic flooding that has killed at least 120 people, which the administration has characterized as a once-in-a-lifetime event.

While the administration isn’t backing away from its pledges to shutter the Federal Emergency Management Agency and return disaster response to the states as part of Trump’s push to slash federal services, it has lessened its focus on the topic since the July 4 disaster, underscoring how tragedy can complicate political calculations.

The president is expected to do an aerial tour of some of the hard-hit areas, a relatively common practice that allows presidents to visit disaster sites and hopefully ease logistical burdens for authorities on the ground. The White House also says he’ll visit the state emergency operations center to meet with first responders and relatives of flood victims. Trump will also get a briefing from officials.

Here’s the latest:

The American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents U.S. diplomats, said it opposes the Trump administration’s decision to cut 18% of its workforce Friday “at a moment of great global instability.”

“In less than six months, the U.S. has shed at least 20 percent of its diplomatic workforce through shuttering of institutions and forced resignations,” the organization said in a statement. “Losing more diplomatic expertise at this critical global moment is a catastrophic blow to our national interests.

The group added that if the administration had issues with excess staffing, there were “clear, institutional mechanisms” that could have resolved that issued.

“Instead, these layoffs are untethered from merit or mission. They target diplomats not for how they’ve served or the skills they have, but for where they happen to be assigned. That is not reform,” the statement continued.

Trump was wearing a suit without a tie as he boarded Marine One in Texas and prepared to do an aerial tour of the flooding devastation. Melania Trump was dressed down, wearing a khaki jacket, olive pants and Converse sneakers, as well as a ball cap.

Air Force One has touched down in San Antonio and will be traveling to Kerrville.

“He’s here to pledge his federal support like he already has with FEMA. That’s important as a leader to be where the point of friction is. That’s what a leader does.” Jeff Holt said.

Holt is also a member of the Center Point Volunteer Fire Department. If Trump asks him what they need for the future, Holt said he will tell the president “(phone) towers, then maybe a little better early warning system.”

Holt noted the early warning system is a topic for the state Legislature in a special session that starts July 23.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State on Thursday filed documents to intervene in the settlement between the IRS and the National Religious Broadcasters.

Earlier this week, the IRS and church groups submitted a joint filing in Texas federal court, agreeing the IRS wouldn’t enforce the rarely used IRS rule, called the Johnson Amendment, against the plaintiffs.

The Johnson Amendment is a 1954 amendment to the U.S. tax code that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates.

Americans United is requesting intervenor status in the case and is asking the court to reject the proposal because it would grant favor and privilege to religious organizations and treat them differently than secular nonprofits, violating the separation of church and state.

“The Trump administration’s radical reinterpretation of the Johnson Amendment is a flagrant, self-serving attack on church-state separation that threatens our democracy by favoring houses of worship over other nonprofits and inserting them into partisan politics,” said AU President and CEO Rachel Laser.

The lawmakers say they’re requesting the information to better understand the federal response and prevent such disasters from happening again.

The letters were spearheaded by the Oversight Committee’s recently elected ranking member, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, as well as Reps. Greg Casar and Jasmine Crockett of Texas, who also sit on the committee.

The group also says reported changes to agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is housed in the Department of Homeland Security, may have contributed to a lack of preparedness.

“We are deeply concerned not only that Secretary Noem may have effectively crippled the agency’s ability to respond to this crisis, but also that she failed to personally act to ensure a timely response,” reads a letter sent to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Democrats also inquired about alleged failures in early warning systems across impacted areas in two separate letters to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Commerce Department’s inspector general.

The lawmakers flying with the president en route to Kerrville, Texas, on Friday include the state’s two senators and a House member who represents a district far from the flood damage site.

On the presidential aircraft are Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, as well as Rep. Wesley Hunt, who hails from a Houston-area district.

Houston is about 250 miles east of Kerrville.

Hunt, notably, is considering a run in the Texas Senate GOP primary against Cornyn, who’s up for reelection next year.

The House lawmaker who represents Kerrville is Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican.

It comes as Ukraine struggles to fend off a recent escalation in Russia’s drone and missile attacks.

“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%,” Trump said in an interview with NBC late Thursday. “So what we’re doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons (to Ukraine), and NATO is paying for those weapons.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that some of the U.S.-made weapons Ukraine is seeking are deployed with NATO allies in Europe. Those weapons could be transferred to Ukraine, with European countries buying replacements from the U.S., he said.

“It’s a lot faster to move something, for example, from Germany to Ukraine than it is to order it from a (U.S.) factory and get it there,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Brazil’s former leader, Jair Bolsonaro, is facing a criminal trial for trying to overturn his election defeat. Trump said earlier this week that Brazil should drop the case or face tariffs on its imports into the U.S.

“I know the honest ones, and I know the crooked ones,” Trump told reporters at the White House as he defended Bolsonaro.

Trump added that “he loved the people of Brazil.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says he’ll only call his American counterpart, President Trump, when they have a reason to speak. Trump promised Wednesday to hike import taxes of the South American nation by 50% on Aug. 1.

“I sent a letter congratulating Trump for his victory. I don’t have to speak to Trump, there’s no reason. I thought I would meet Trump at the G7 meeting, but he had already left when we arrived. Whenever I need to speak to Trump, I have no problem calling him. As I have called (Bill) Clinton, (George W. Bush), (Barack) Obama and (Joe) Biden,” Lula said in an interview to TV Globo that aired Thursday night.

“Two presidents do not call each other to tell jokes. He could have called Brazil to speak about the measure he was going to take, but he didn’t send any letter. He published it on his website, a total disrespect,” the Brazilian leader added.

The president acknowledged a strike on a Ukrainian hospital. He’s expressed increasing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin and he’s promised a “major statement” on Monday.

The president told reporters “it’s a horrible thing” what happened in Texas with the recent deadly floods.

He’s heading to Kerrville, where the rising Guadalupe River killed at least 120 people.

“Nobody can even believe it,” he said. “That much water, that fast.”

Ahead of his visit to flood-ravaged Central Texas, President Trump on Thursday approved a request from Gov. Abbott to extend the major disaster declaration beyond Kerr County to eight additional counties, making them eligible for direct financial assistance to recover and rebuild.

“I thank President Trump and his Administration for their swift and continued support,” Abbott said in statement Thursday. “Texas will continue to deploy all available resources and support to help those impacted until the job is done.”

More counties could be added to the disaster declaration as further information from the damage assessments becomes available, according to FEMA.

The White House budget chief said Republicans have been talking for years about eliminating federal money for public media, and now they have a chance to do exactly that.

Congress is slated to vote on recissions, which would claw back $9 billion in funding.

“It’s important that we finally take that opportunity to and not fall back on the tired old excuses,” Vought said.

He plans to be on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to answer questions from lawmakers and he’s confident the legislation will pass.

After his interview with CNBC, Vought spoke to reporters at the White House. He declined to say whether the Fed should continue to operate independently as it sets monetary policy, saying “I think the question is immaterial.”

He pivoted to criticizing the Fed’s headquarters overhaul.

“I know you guys want to make it more of a metaphysical question,” Vought said, but insisted “this is about the extent to which this building, this renovation project, is horrifying from a cost perspective.”

Russell Vought, Trump’s top budget adviser, bobbed and weaved through an interview with CNBC as the White House ratchets up the pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower rates.

Vought said Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who Trump wants to replace, has “mismanaged the institution” and “has been late at every turn” when it comes to setting monetary policy.

CNBC’s Joe Kernen asked if it was really the right time to lower interest rates, as the president has demanded. If the economy is as strong as Trump says, “that’s usually not a time where you need interest rate cuts.”

Vought said inflation isn’t a problem and “we want to see the benefits of a growing economy flow to all Americans,” such as with cheaper mortgages.

CNBC’s Melissa Lee pressed Vought on whether the administration’s concerns about the high cost of renovating the Fed’s headquarters was part of a pressure campaign to achieve lower rates.

“This is about the extent to which this building is incredibly expensive and overrun,” Vought said.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump are scheduled to visit parts of Texas devastated by flooding before retiring to the Trump Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

9:30 a.m. – Trump and the first lady will depart Washington for Kerrville, Texas

2:10 p.m. – Following their noon arrival, they will meet with first responders and local authorities

3:15 p.m. – The president and first lady will depart for Bedminster, New Jersey

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s will visit the United States from July 20 to 22 but Philippine officials were still finalizing details of his meeting with Trump with the U.S. State Department, the Philippine government said. The allies have boosted mutual defense engagements, including large-scale combat exercises in the Philippines, to strengthen deterrence against China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the region.

Among the proposed topics for discussion is strengthening “peace through deterrence,” Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez told The Associated Press by telephone.

That echoed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ‘s remarks about the U.S. military’s plan to ratchet up deterrence against China’s increasingly assertive actions in the disputed South China Sea by intensifying security engagements with the Philippines and allied nations in the region.

The firings Friday are in line with a dramatic reorganization plan unveiled by the Trump administration earlier this year.

The department is sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with domestic assignments in the United States, said a senior State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters ahead of individual notices being emailed to affected employees.

Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they’ll formally lose their jobs, according to an internal notice obtained by The Associated Press. For most affected civil servants, the separation period is 60 days, it said.

President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and their Republican allies have lauded the move as overdue and necessary to make the department leaner and more efficient.

But the cuts have been roundly criticized by current and former diplomats who say they’ll weaken U.S. influence and its ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.

– Matthew Lee