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President Donald Trump compared Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to the famous “Saturday Night Live” character of “Tommy Flanagan, the Pathological Liar.”
During a Cabinet meeting in which Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other administration officials described the catastrophic flooding that’s killed more than 100 people in Texas, Trump turned his attention to Schumer, who has tried to blame the disaster on the Republican president’s leadership.
“I saw a Palestinian senator. His name is Schumer. He is a Palestinian. No, he’s a Palestinian. He’s become a Palestinian. He’s abandoned the Jews,” Trump said of the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S. “But I saw him say, it’s Trump’s fault. ‘Yeah, yeah, that’s right. It’s Trump’s fault.’ He was actually – did you ever see Jon Lovitz, The Liar? Where he goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, I went to Harvard. That’s right.’ Because this was Schumer.”
“He goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s Trump’s fault. That’s right. It’s Trump,’” Trump said, mocking Schumer. “I actually saw that stupid guy try and blame it on me. And I said, man that’s that’s a tough one to take. But he’s – his career is limited because I hear AOC is going to beat him. And she’s no bargain either by the way.”
Trump was referring to the late 1980s SNL character played by cast member Jon Lovitz. Lovitz would play “Tommy Flanagan, the Pathological Liar,” a man who would nervously repeat himself as his lies about politics and other events became more outlandish. With a twitch, the character would tell increasingly absurd claims.
Schumer on Monday sent a letter to Department of Commerce Acting Inspector General Duane Townsend, demanding an immediate investigation “into the scope, breadth, and ramifications of whether staffing shortages at key local National Weather Service (NWS) stations contributed to the catastrophic loss of life and property during the deadly flooding.”
DHS, meanwhile, has defended the NWS’s response.
“The mainstream media is deliberately lying about the events leading up to the catastrophic flooding in Texas,” the department wrote on X Sunday. “The National Weather Service executed timely, precise forecasting and warnings, despite unprecedented rainfall overwhelming the region.”
During Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Noem described the “absolute horrific” devastation she toured in Texas and her experience of comforting family members of the girls who were at Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River.
“I’m extremely grateful for God’s hand in that whole situation because hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people were saved, and this is a time for all of us in this country to remember that we were created to serve each other,” Noem said. “God created us to take care of each other. And that when we do that, we are happier, we are more fulfilled, and we can walk alongside people on their worst day and help them get through it and come out the other side.”
She said the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) “went to an enhanced level immediately.”
As soon as Trump signed the major disaster declaration, “we were able to get them resources and dollars right away, just like you envisioned through state block grants to help them with cleanup,” she told the president. “And we’re still there in presence and FEMA has been deployed, and we’re cutting through the paperwork of the old FEMA streamlining it, much like your vision of how FEMA should operate.”
“It’s been a much better response to help these families get through this terrible situation,” Noem said.
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