Donald Trump has defended the state and federal response to deadly flooding in Texas, while administration officials continue to dodge questions about his plans to abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).
Speaking at a round table in Kerrville, Texas, Trump said Fema deployed multiple emergency response units and praised all the officials involved in what he said was an effective and swift response.
“Every American should be inspired by what has taken place,” Trump said. He called a reporter a “bad person” for asking a question about families of the dead who are saying that their loved ones could have been saved had emergency warnings gone out before the flooding. Trump said: “I think this has been heroism. This has been incredible, the job you’ve all done.”
Here are the key US politics stories at a glance:
Trump defends Texas flood handling as disaster tests vow to shutter Fema
During a trip on Friday to look at the devastation caused by the catastrophic flooding in Texas, Donald Trump claimed that state and federal officials had done an “incredible job”, saying of the disaster that he had “never seen anything like this”.
The trip comes as he has remained conspicuously quiet about his previous promises to do away with the federal agency in charge of disaster relief.
State department issues first termination orders to staff
The US state department has begun issuing the first of more than 1,350 termination notices as part of a huge reorganisation of US’s diplomatic corps under the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, according to internal documents and US diplomats at the state department on Friday.
Career diplomats and other staff began to receive the notices on Friday morning, days after the supreme court lifted a ban on the Trump administration moving forward with mass firings of government employees that will affect hundreds of thousands of federal workers.
“Hearing ‘I got mine!’ around the floor,” one current state department employee told the Guardian.
Worker dies after chaotic immigration raid at California farm
A farm worker died on Friday from injuries sustained a day earlier in raids on two California cannabis farm sites as US immigration authorities confirmed they arrested 200 workers after a tense standoff with authorities.
Jaime Alanis’s death was confirmed in a social media post by the United Farm Workers advocacy group. “We tragically can confirm that a farm worker has died of injuries they sustained as a result of yesterday’s immigration enforcement action,” the post read.
US border czar doesn’t know fate of men deported to South Sudan
Tom Homan, the US border czar, has said he does not know what happened to the eight men deported to South Sudan after the Trump administration resumed sending migrants to countries that are not their place of origin, known as third countries.
“They’re free as far as we’re concerned. They’re free, they’re no longer in our custody, they’re in Sudan,” Homan told Politico on Friday. “Will they stay in Sudan? I don’t know.”
Trump to resume weapons deliveries to Ukraine through Nato allies
Donald Trump appears poised to deliver weapons to Ukraine by selling them first to Nato allies in a major policy shift for his administration amid frustrations with Vladimir Putin over stalling negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump yanks $15m in research into Pfas on US farms
The Trump administration has killed nearly $15m in research into Pfas contamination of US farmland, bringing to a close studies that public health advocates say are essential for understanding a worrying source of widespread food contamination.
The administration’s move is “not just stupid, it’s evil”, a former EPA attorney said.
What else happened today:
Myanmar’s military leader praised Trump and asked him to lift sanctions, as the junta sought to capitalize on a tariff letter from the US president believed to be Washington’s first public recognition of its rule.
Trans teenagers who say gender-affirming care saved their lives are protesting as two leading US hospitals halt their treatments.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 10 July 2025.
