Eager to demonstrate leadership amid the worst natural disaster of his tenure, President Donald Trump flies to flood-ravaged Texas on Tuesday, even as the state grips for more catastrophic rain.
Trump left the Washington area on Air Force One Tuesday morning accompanied by his wife, Melania, and a group of Cabinet officials, including Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson and Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said those departments and agencies would be crucial to the recovery efforts.
Trump will visit a fire house in Corpus Christi, Texas, to survey local recovery efforts before flying to Austin for a tour of the emergency operations center there.
Trump’s visit will “lay the foundation for what we know will be a long recovery effort,” Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Texas.
Trump hopes his stops will send the message that he’s fully engaged in the disaster recovery efforts, which have consumed Texas officials and are expected to persist for months. He’s due to receive briefings from local authorities and potentially meet with displaced residents.
But an early trip to the state comes with some risk. His predecessors largely avoided landing in places where law enforcement resources — required for any presidential visit — are still being used for search-and-rescue missions.
The White House insists it has taken steps to mitigate any drain on local assets as Trump makes stops in Corpus Christi, along the Gulf Coast, and in Austin, the Texas capital.
Those stops will keep Trump at a distance from the most devastating damage in and around Houston, which has experienced historic flooding after Hurricane Harvey’s landfall on Friday.
“The President wants to be very cautious about making sure that any activity doesn’t disrupt the recovery efforts that are still ongoing,” Sanders said Tuesday morning.
Trump will meet with Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott in Corpus Christi and FEMA Administrator Brock Long. He’ll also get a briefing from local officials in Corpus Christi, where he will be joined by Texas’s two US senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
Trump will return to storm-affected areas on Saturday, Sanders said, likely visiting a different part of the state. Trump suggested Monday that he may also visit Louisiana, which is expected to be hit with torrential rain and flooding.
The White House has been keen to show Trump engaged in the crisis as it unfolded over the weekend, distributing photos of Trump being briefed on the storm from Camp David.
Presidents have long visited areas devastated by natural crises as shows of solidarity and support. But Trump’s predecessors have found it can be difficult to strike the right tone.
When George W. Bush flew over devastated areas of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the photos of him peering from the window of Air Force One were derided as evidence of an aloof commander in chief.
President Barack Obama offered an emotional speech in Joplin, Missouri, after tornadoes tore through the town in 2011, but he was criticized for not cutting short a European trip to fly there sooner.
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.