Transcript

7.12.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to today's reading of the Washington Post. It is Saturday,
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July the twelfth of twenty twenty five. Hard to believe
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that July is almost halfway through already, gosh, seven months
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into the year. Amazing. I am Alistaina with the reminder
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that Radio I is a service for those blinder with
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disabilities making it difficult to hold and read printed material.
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And so for today, here is the front page of
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the Saturday Washington Post. On the very far left, County
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didn't use broadest flood alerts. Local officials scrutinized for lack
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of notification in texas As waters rose. This article is
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by Joyce Son and Lee Brianna six, Aaron Davis, and
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three others that I can't see yet until I pull
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it up high. In the very middle of the very
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top of the front page are Glorier and Richard Rosales
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on Friday viewing a memorial in Kerrville, Texas to the
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victims of the recent Guadalupe River flash flooding. And there
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are wooden crosses with American flags, Mexican flags, flowers on
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each cross, and candles at the base of each cross.
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It is a long waterway of the river sort of
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like a little dam area and oh, it's very moving
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with the water and the crosses. And it is above
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an article entitled in Deluge's Wake, talk of Ending FEMA
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subsides Whitehouse explores retooling the agency to stressed states post
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disaster role by Natalie Allison and to the far right
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of the picture and the FEMA article thirteen hundred workers
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are fired at state rubio sites bloat for mass layoff.
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Diplomats say cuts will degrade US soft power by John
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Hudson and Hannah Nattison. In that particular article, I have
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a very dear friend who is a diplomat, and I
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hope he is not affected. David R. Gerkin nineteen forty
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two to twenty twenty five, a towering insider in Pillars
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of Politics by Adam Bernstein and David Gerkin. Was very
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big into Washington when I lived there. And below the
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David Gerkin article there's a picture of Aaron Zellipani, who
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of RICO United Unit. Oh. He recounts the twenty twenty
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four assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. The article
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is entitled he had Trump's would be shooting in sight,
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then he fired after a year out of the spotlight,
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Officer Aaron Zaliponi tells his story by Sean Boberg. And
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then on the very far right of that is a
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picture of the Fight for America interactive game. As the
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audience moved figurines around a model capital, and you see
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the figurines with MAGA hats on red hats. You see
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a replica of the United States Capitol and the background
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lit up and behind it are US flags and red,
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white and blue bunting. And it says in London, January
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six reenactment turns theater goers into rioters and offices by
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Carla Adam and indeed in London so at first page article,
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State Department fires more than thirteen hundred employees in downsizing plan.
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The layoffs have drawn criticism from a current and former
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diplomats who say cuts will degreat America standing in the
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world and curb US soft power. And there's a picture
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of a laid off employee fighting back tears as she
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leaves the State Department on Friday. She is in a
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black dress with black plaques and a yellow sweater. Her
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hand is over her mouth and she's carrying her phone
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in her hand and looking on and clapping are other employees,
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some on phones. They are in summary clothes and there's
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a backdrop of looks like Forever roses in the backdrop,
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but they're standing as she's walking by. The article is
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by John Hudson and Hannah Nattinson. The State Department began
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firing more than thirteen hundred employees via email on Friday
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as a part of the Trump administration's plans to downsize
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government and cut back on what it called bloat and inefficiencies.
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The move has come under criticism from current and former diplomats,
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who say the cuts will degrade america standing in the
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world and curb US soft power. The diplomat's hit hardest
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tailed from the offices that Secretary of State Marco Rubio
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eliminated in his sweeping real organization of the department, the
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most far reaching in decades, including the Office of Global
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Women's Issues and the Department's diversity and Inclusion programs. But
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cuts also affected employees working on highly valuable volatile issues,
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including Syria, a brittle Middle Eastern country emerging from decades
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of authoritarian rule, and senior officials in charge of chemical
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weapons issues and multilateral nuclear diplomacy. They cut key experts
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on nuclear testing, nuclear verification, and efforts to add the
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production of weapons grade fisile material, said Alex Bell, a
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former State Department official and current president of the Bulletin
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of the Atomic Scientists. These cuts will only serve to
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increase the nuclear threats facing this nation. Bell said the
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Department is laying sending layoff notices to more than eleven
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hundred civil servants and two hundred and forty foreign service employees.
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According to an internal notice obtained by the Washington Post,
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foreign service officers will immediately be placed on paid administrative
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believe and lose their jobs one hundred and twenty days
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after they received the notice. This separation period for most
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civil servants is sixty days. Rubio has defended the overhaul
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as critical to streamlining the department sometimes sluggish decision making
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processes and various redundancies. He said, there were forty boxes
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on this piece of paper, he told longmakers in May,
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referring to the policy approval process, adding that means forty
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people had to check off yes before it even got
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to meet. That's ridiculous. And if any one of those
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boxes didn't get checked, the memo didn't move. That can't continue.
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Frequently asked questions hand provided to employees on Friday said
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the purpose of the reorganization was to focus the department's
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resources on policy priorities and eliminate redundant functions in order
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to better deliver for American taxpayers. Michael Rigas, the Deputy
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Secretary of State for Management and Resources, told staff and
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an email Thursday that every effort has been made to
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support our colleagues who are deporting. Departing with weeks of
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uncertainty over the expected layoffs badly affected morale at the department,
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with some of the workforce exasperated and embittered about plans
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to fire peace at a time when many were asked
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to work additional hours to assist US citizens seeking to
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flee the Middle East amid Israel's war with Iran. With
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reberations of the layoffs ricocheted across the department's foggy Bottom
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headquarters on Friday, Security agents were on every floor as
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diplomats cried and embraced each other in hallways. Employees were
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escorted to conference rooms to pack up and turn in
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work materials. Other staff who had not yet received layoff
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notices created posters that said thank you for your service
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and your work left an impact. Ribio informed Congress in
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May that the Department planned to reduce its US workforce
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by more than fifteen percent, almost two thousand people, as
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part of a sweeping reorganization intended to streamline what he
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has called a bloated barker see that stifles innovation and
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miss he s allocates scarce resources. Separately, he has accused
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certain bureaus within the Department of pursuing a radical political ideology.
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President Donald Trump is a longtime critic of the state departments,
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dating back to at least his first term in office.
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Since he was elected to a second term, it has
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been clear that his second administration would target the Department.
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The question was not whether cuts would happen, but how
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big they would be. For years, both political and career
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officials have acknowledged that the Department could be less protocol
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bound and more efficient, but officials question the administration's claims
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a prioritizing merit based tiring while eliminating diversity programs and
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promoting young, inexperienced right leaning political operatives to senior positions.
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The idea that they've been hiring the best and the
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brightest is laughable, said one career diplomat. This has been
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a windfall for young and often mediocre white men. The
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American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents diplomats, said
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the Trump administration has shed at least twenty percent of
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its diplomatic workforce in the past six months through shuddering
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offices and forced resignations. There were clear institutional mechanisms available
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to address access staffing if that had been the goal. Instead,
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these layoffs are untethered from merit or mission. They target
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diplomats not for how they've served or the skills they have,
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but for where they happen to be assigned. That is
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not reform, the organization said. One nearly twenty year veteran
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of the State Department on parental leave logged into her
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work email from home Friday morning to wait for the
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hammer to drop. She said. Her firing leaves their family
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with one income and a newborn to support. She said.
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Another employee learned they were fired a few weeks after
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their space was diagnosed with breast cancer. Those officials spoke
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on the condition of anonymity to discuss their personal situation.
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Jessica Bradley Rushing, who worked for two years in the
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Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, said every
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single member of her office's leadership team, including one woman
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who gave birth yesterday, has been or will be fired.
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She said the gutting of her office imperiled Afghans who
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assisted and served alongside Americans during the two decade US
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mission in Afghanistan. The two hundred and fifty thousand Afghans
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waiting their turn to resettle the United Slime States will
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now have no access to government assistance, she said. This week,
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the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration
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to launch plans for mass firings and reorganizations at nineteen
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federal agencies and departments while litigation continues. The Justices lifted
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a lower court order that temporarily blocks plans to lay
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off thousands of federal workers, including at the State Department,
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because the administration did not first consult with Congress. And
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there is a picture of people holding up signs and
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support of fired State Department employees. One says thank you
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America's diplomats, and the thank you is written in blue
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in script Americas is red, and diplomats in blue and
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capital letters with stars at the top and stripes at
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the bottom, State Department and democracy with two hands shaped
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as an Valentine at the bottom of that we all
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deserve better solidarity. In all of these State Department members
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are holding up the signs. While the layoffs are deeply
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unpopular among Korea officials, some expressed mild relief that the
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court's decision ended the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the department.
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The only thing worse than these layoffs was the uncertainty
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about these layoffs. One State Department official, who spoke on
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the condition of inanity to discuss internal personnel matters, told
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the Post. Long time observers of the department, however, express
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concern that the loss of institutional knowledge would affect the
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Department's ability to function. The current administration has already ensured
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that State will not have sufficient talent, experience, and proper
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organization needed for US foreign policy to prosper in the
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years ahead, or even for State to be able to
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provide critical help sometimes needed by Americans abroad, said Robert E. Hunter,
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a former US ambassador to NATO. Senator Jean Shaheen, Democrat
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of New Hampshire, a Genie Shahim, Democrat of New Hampshire
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and other Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee have also
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criticized the decision issuing a joint statement, saying, if this
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administration is serious about putting America first, it must invest
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in our diplomatic corps and national security experts, not erode
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the institutions that protect our interests, promote US values, and
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to keep America safe abroad. REGUS meanwhile, express gratitude to
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employees who would soon be laid off. First and foremost,
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we want to thank them for their dedication and service
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to the United States, he said. Also on the front page,
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to the left hand side, Trump administration moves away from
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abolishing female Well. This is one under the picture that
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crosses as the President visits Texas to see the impact
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of last week's deadly flash floods. The White House is
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backed away from plans to abolish the agency, official said.
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And there's a picture of a bridge with the road
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washed away, trees lying across the water or underneath the bridge,
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background buried of sandy looking, and it says construction crews
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clear flood debris in Ingram, Texas for residents to cross
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a bridge over the Guadalupe River. On July the fifth,
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the day after the floods by Natalie Allison. For months,
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President Donald Trump and his Homeland Security secretary have said
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the Federal Emergency Management Agency could be eliminated, But as
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the President visited Texas to view the impact of last
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week's deadly floods, administration's officials say abolishing the agency outright
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is not on the agenda. A senior White House official
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told The Washington Post that no official action is being
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taken to winddown FEMA, and that exchanges in the agency
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will probably amount to a rebranding that will emphasize state
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leader's roles in disaster response. The official and others emphasized
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that Trump will make the ultimate decision. It's said at
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this point, FEMA is not set to be abolished without
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any official action. You are already seeing theory of the
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administration's new approach taking place in Texas, the official said.
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The President immediately delivered the dollars. Texas already has that
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money in their hands, and Governor Greg Abbott is the
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lead decision maker when it comes to the Texas floods,
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the official said, adding you should expect this structure that
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has quietly taken place to continue. Trump on Friday met
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with the first responders and family members of the victims
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in Texas, received a briefing from local elected officials and
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took part in a round tabled discussion. Abbot, a Republican,
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joined him during the visit. Trump and Homeland Security christ L.
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Nim in recent months raised prospect that the agency could
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be abolished altogether. In describing an executive order on FEMA
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shortly after he took off, as Trump said it would
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begin the process of fundamentally reforming an overhauling FEMA, or
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maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA's not good,
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Trump said in January, explaining that the FEMA thing has
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not been a very successful experiment. Administration officials are now
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hedging their comments, emphasizing that FEMA will undergo changes as
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part of a review process. The FEMA Review Council, which
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Trump created by his executive or, met for the second
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time this week and is expected to release a report
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in November with recommendations to improve federal disaster response. How
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these recommendations will be implemented that FEMA ultimately comes down
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to Trump, who is dialed up and down his aversion
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to the agency depending on the occasion. A second White
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House official said the Review Council's meetings on May twentieth
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at the White House were productive, and noted that thousands
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of interested Americans listened into this week's gathering in New Orleans.
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Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement
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that the Review Council will recommend to the President how
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FEMA may be reformed in ways that best serve the
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national interest, including how America responds to and recovers from disasters,
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such as that the federal role remained supplemental and appropriate
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to the scale of disaster. Federal resources are intended to
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supplement state actions, not to replace those actions, Jackson said,
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adding that FEMA's outsize role created a bloated bureaucracy that
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disincentivized state investment in their own resilience. President Trump is
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committed to right sizing the federal government while empowering state
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and local governments by enabling them to better understand, plan for,
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and ultimately address the needs of their citizens, she said.
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Asked this week whether Trump was reconsidering phasing out FEMA
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in light of the Texas flooding, white House Press Secretary
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at Caroline Levitt said discussions remain under way about structuring
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the federal disaster response. The President wants to ensure American
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citizens always have what they need during times of need.
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Whether that assistant comes from states or federal government, that's
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a policy discussion that will continue, and the President has
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always said he wants states to do as much as
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they can, if not more, Levitt said, not everyone agrees
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that the process in Texas has unfolded smoothly. Current and
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former FEMA employees said the agency's ability to fully respond
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to the flooding has been delayed by restrictions the administration
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has imposed on government spending and contracts. Deployments of specialized
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search and rescue teams were significantly delayed in the days
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immediately after the flood. Those officials said federal spending or
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disaster relief has risen sharply as the number of major
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disasters has minted in recent years. In twenty eighteen, the
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US suffered fourteen disasters that caused more than a billion
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dollars in damage. By twenty twenty four, that number had
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risen to twenty seven. According to a report by the
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Government Accountability Office, the GOAO Congress's agency that audits federal programs.
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Over the last decade, the government has spent more than
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five hundred and fifty billion dollars on disaster relief. The
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GAO found polling in decays that a large majority of
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Americans support the federal government helping communities recover from natural disasters.
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Eight in ten Americans said the federal government should have
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a major role in providing aid to communities in the
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aftermath of natural disasters, according to an Associated Press dash
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RC poll last month that included eighty percent of Republicans
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in eighty seven percent of Democrats. Asked about rebuilding communities
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affected by disasters, seventy four percent of Americans said the
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federal government should have a major role. What shape that
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federal role should take, however, has been the subject of
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repeated debates. The senior White House official said Trump's vision
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for FEMA is that the federal government provides the necessary funds,
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but the state makes the decisions. The official added that
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it did not make sense for federal workers from other
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parts of the country who do not understand the geography,
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who do not understand the communities in a state, to
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swoop in for miles away and try to control and
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dictate decision making on the ground. Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary
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of Homeland Security, said it's not a secret that underknown
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and acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson, FEMA as it is
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today will no longer exist. Federal emergency management will shift
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from bloated, DC centric dead weight to a lean, deployable
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disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for
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their citizens. The old processes are being replaced because they
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failed Americans in real emergencies for decades, McLaughlin said in
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a statement. The FEMA Review Council is developing a comprehensive
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plan for necessary change. She continued, State emergency management officials
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have long suggested that reforms should take place to make
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the federal government more efficient at responding to disasters, including
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overdue modernization of operations. Some argue for a sharply scaled
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back federal road. North Carolina's state representative, Jake Johnson, a
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Republican who serves as host's majority whip, represents four counties
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that were battered by Hurricane Aleen in September. He and
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his colleagues hoped FEMA would be replaced by a much
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simpler system of block grants that could send federal resources
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straight to states, cutting out what he sees as wasteful
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red tape and bureaucracy, he said. Johnson said, what was
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so frustrating for us was the fact that we needed
25:57
less clip boards. We needed more people helping run missions
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and actually doing things. And you know, it's good to
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have those advisors here, but when we're looking for outside help,
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we're looking for actual tangible assistance, and that was just
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not not there at all. I think we could handle,
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in large part what FEMA's job is, if we had
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some federal monetary help, Johnson said, we could set up
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the systems here. At the same time, many state leaders
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believe a strong federal role is needed to help coordinate
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disaster response. Some communities and states don't have the resources
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to lead all aspects of disaster responses. They note. One
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state emergency management official, speaking on the condition of anonimity
26:51
to candidly discuss the situation, said they were now far
26:56
more comfortable with the review process after speaking to members
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the FEMA Review Council in recent days, and believe the
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council is taking a measured approach to changes. During the
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twenty twenty four campaign, Trump sharply criticized FEMA's response to
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the severe flood seline generated last month, Trump said he
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wanted to wean off of FEMA and give out less money.
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Gnome declared during a March cabinet meeting that she was
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going to eliminate FEMA. Last month, how she seemed to
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dial down her rhetoric, saying Trump wanted to see FEMA
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eliminated as it exists today. In a related article, Kerr
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County did not use its most far reaching alert system
27:48
in deadly Texas floods. Local officials use this system more
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than two days after the recorded height of the floods.
27:57
And there's a picture of a search and rescue team
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from Bourn, Texas navigating the flooded Guadalupe on July fourth
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in Comfort, Texas the area in yellow jackets with helmets
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on and vests in a black fire rescue float boat.
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Joyce Seanyon Lee, Rihanna Sachs, Aaron C. Davis, Scott's Dance,
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Andrew Bartran and Immajeen Piper. The Texas county where nearly
28:30
one hundred people were killed in more than one hundred
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and sixty remained missing, had the technology to turn every
28:37
cell phone in the River Valley into a blaring alarm,
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but local fishers did not do so before or during
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the early morning hours of July fourth, as river levels
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rose to record heights, inundating campsites and homes. A Washington
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Post examination foond Kirk County officials, who have come on
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the increasing SCREA to me for their actions as the
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Guadalupe River began to flood, eventually sent text message to
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alerts that morning to residents who had registered to receive them,
29:10
according to screenshots of the text. But the Post review
29:14
of emergency notifications that night found that even as a
29:19
federal meteorologist warned of deteriorating conditions and catastrophic risk, county
29:25
officials did not activate a more powerful notification tool they
29:29
had previously used to warn of potential flooding. The National
29:34
Weather Service sent its own alerts through this system beginning
29:38
at one poin fourteen a m. On July fourth. That
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mass notification system, known as the Integrated Public Alert and
29:48
Warning System or APPAUSE, is used by the National Weather
29:53
Service meteorologists to warn of imminent threats. Warnings of life
29:59
threatening whether of then sent on that system, similar to
30:02
amber alerts, forced bones to vibrate and emit a unique
30:07
jarring tone as long as they are on and have
30:10
a signal. They also allowed qualified local officials to send
30:14
tailored messages to targeted areas. The lack of alerts sent
30:20
through ipaus from Kerr County officials as the Guadal Lupy
30:25
River flooded was a critical misstep in their response, said
30:29
Abdul Aqim Sadiq, a professor at the University of Central
30:34
Florida who researches emergency management. Residents are more likely to
30:39
trust and listen to their local government officials, he said,
30:44
and the alert could have been made a difference for
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some people. Despite this body sel phone service along the
30:50
river and the fact that many people were probably asleep
30:53
as floodwater surged. If the alert had gone out, there
30:58
might be one or two people who might still have
31:02
been able to receive that message, who now through word
31:05
of mirth alert people around them, Sadiq said. Ipause is
31:11
just one part of a successful emergency response. Experts say
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ideally officials would warrant of impending whether events before they escalate,
31:21
and on July fourth, the flooding search faster and higher
31:25
than forecasters had predicted. Kerr County officials have for years
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talked about the need for a more robust flash flood
31:34
warning system, including sirens that would reach people in places
31:38
with no cell service. But in the absence of that
31:42
expensive infrastructure, they adopted I Pause, which cost them nothing,
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as a way to alert more people by phone. Kerr
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County officials have activated I Pause twice before, most recently
31:57
in twenty twenty four, amid concern the possible flash floods.
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According to a database of alerts sent through ipaus archived
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by the Federal Emergency Management Agency last summer, on the
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evening of the July twenty third, record show an alert
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sent through ipause was issued from an email address used
32:18
by William bub Thomas, Kerr County's emergency management coordinator. In
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that instance, the alert warned that the Guadalupe River could
32:28
rise four feet and that people should avoid low level
32:31
river crossings and move their belongings away from the water.
32:35
The flash flood passed with no major injuries. On July fourth,
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the river rose about thirty feet in Hunt, Texas, close
32:44
to Camp Mystic. In more than two dozen campus would
32:47
be killed in the flood. I'm seeing a map of
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the river Kerrville, Ingram, Hunt and Camp Mystic and Hunt
32:57
is at a convergence of the two rivers coming together
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the area. Thomas Kerr County Sheriff Larry Letha and other
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county officials did not respond to emails, texts, and other
33:14
requests from the Post for comment. A communications team representing
33:18
state and local officials said in this statement that county
33:22
leaders have been focused on rescue and reunification and are
33:27
committed to a transparent and full review of processes and protocols.
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As Tuesday, during a news conference, if anyone in the
33:36
county's Emergency Management division had been awake to push the
33:40
button to send an emergency alert, Litha's shot back that
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it wasn't that easy. There's a lot more to that,
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he said. A reporter asked again, had any alert been sent?
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I can tell you at this I can't tell you
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at this time, Letha said, based with similar questions that
33:59
a news conference a day later, the sheriff said he
34:02
was not running from responsibility. Those questions need to be
34:07
answered to the families of mist loved ones, to the public,
34:11
to the people who put me in this office, Leatha said,
34:14
promising a full after action review. The National Weather Service
34:18
issued twenty two alerts through pause I pause on July fourth,
34:23
sitting increasingly dire warnings to swaths of Kerr County. The
34:28
Weather Service's typical notifications use wordings such as turn around,
34:33
don't drown, and move to higher ground now to warn
34:38
of general risks to broad geographical areas. They come so
34:42
frequently in an area of the county known as Flash
34:45
Flat Alley that they are often ignored residents, say. Experts say.
34:51
The county officials, by contrast, could have issued evacuation orders,
34:55
described risk to specific neighborhoods, or provided other more location
35:01
specific guidance to say state. Such targeted information, especially from
35:06
a known and trusted source, can help persuade people to
35:10
take action. Experts say when the county did issue cell
35:16
phone alerts that morning, it used a warning system with
35:20
more limited reach called code Read that can be used
35:24
to send voice messages to landlines listed in the white pages,
35:28
as well as text messages to the cell phones of
35:31
people who have signed up. Code Read can target messages
35:37
to specific locations in the county, and the Post could
35:41
not obtain a comprehensive list of all code read messages
35:45
and on July fourth to determine when the earliest was sent.
35:49
But screenshots of text messages showed that some local residents
35:53
did not receive one until ten fifty five am, hours
35:58
after the river reached its highest water level earlier in
36:02
the morning. The code read system automatically rebroadcast versions of
36:07
National Weather Service warnings. The screenshots showed days before the holiday,
36:12
weather forecasters could see the potential for slow moving storms
36:16
across South Tentsral Texas. On the afternoon of July third,
36:21
the National Weather Service issued a floodwatch across central Texas,
36:26
warning of a few inches of rain five to seven
36:29
inches at the most through early Friday. As July third progressed,
36:34
some weather models predicted the possibility of ten inches of
36:38
rain and even as much as twenty inches. Meanwhile, camps
36:43
along the Bottomloope were bustling with hundreds of children from
36:46
across the county, and RV parks and motels were filling
36:50
up Acrosskerk County for a patriotic four July concert that
36:55
was expected to draw thousands of visitors. It was the
37:00
and of recipe for trouble that Thomas and others in
37:04
Kirk County had been warning of for nearly a decade.
37:07
According to minutes from County commissioner meetings. Thomas, a twenty
37:11
five year veteran of Texas Highway Patrol who had weathered hurricanes, bias,
37:17
an even a Space Shuttle disaster, began working as Kirk
37:20
County's emergency manager in twenty fifteen. The following year, at
37:26
a county commissioners meeting in March twenty sixteen, he said
37:30
he considered kerrs opt in code red warning system to
37:34
be inadequate. Thomas said he was concerned that the county's
37:37
many visitors, including those attending camps along the river, wouldn't
37:42
receive alerts in case of disaster. Minutes show At the
37:47
same meeting, Thomas pushed for a comprehensive flood monitoring and
37:51
warning system. He suggested kerk could adopt a system like
37:55
that used by neighboring county, with solar power backups and
37:59
sirens that could be heard from three miles away. Some
38:03
commissioners balked at pay for the system outright, and the
38:07
Federal Emergency Management Agency rejected the county's application for a
38:11
grant to help defray the cost. The Post previously reported
38:16
in November twenty twenty, Thomas briefed commission members on a
38:20
new plan, Kirk County could piggyback on the federal I
38:24
Pause for free to notify folks when they are here
38:29
in Kirk County about a flood fire. Whatever thomas Cold
38:34
commission is, he would be the one to train on
38:37
and activate the county's alerts through I Pause. Beating minute
38:40
show his email address is listed as having been used
38:44
to send the county's first I Pause message, a shelter
38:48
in place alert sent on an icy day in February
38:51
twenty twenty two. According to archived alerts available online, the
38:56
message told people not to travel unless they were having
38:59
an emergency, and advised that anyone who lost power could
39:03
warm up in the gym at the back of a
39:05
local Methodist church or at any volunteer fire department. Neither
39:11
Thomas nor any other Kerr County officials sent another emergency
39:15
weather alert through aphause until the flash flood morning for
39:19
the Guadalupe River in July twenty twenty four. The archives
39:23
showed that was the last time they used the system
39:26
before the July fourth flood. In the wee hours of
39:32
July fourth, a National Weather Service meteorologist named Jason Runyon
39:37
was on duty for the Austin San Antonio region, according
39:42
to the updates he posted in a channel on Slack,
39:45
a messaging system the Weather Service uses to keep local
39:50
officials and reporters informed of at changing conditions. Runyon could
39:55
not be reached for comment. Thomas is a member of
39:59
that channel record show, and had last posted a message
40:01
on May eighth about thunderstorms. It's not clear whether he
40:06
or any other official from Kerr County was monitoring the
40:09
channel that night. CNN first reported the contents of Runyan's
40:13
messages as the flooding unvolted have not been previously reported.
40:18
In a statement, Whether Service spokesman Erica grow Chi said
40:24
that there were multiple communications involving local emergency management and
40:30
the agency's Austin, San Antonio office on the morning of
40:34
July fourth, in decluding by email, Slack, and phone call.
40:39
She did not specify which officials were involved, or if
40:43
any were with Kerr County. Shortly before one am, Runyon
40:47
wrote that some sell mergers were about to take place
40:51
over Central Kirk County and to be on the lookout
40:54
for flash flooding there and in adjacent Vandera County. An
40:58
emergency manager from another nearby county reacted immediately with the
41:02
thumbs up emoji emoji. At one fourteen a m. The
41:07
Weather Service used I Pause to send a flash flood
41:10
warning to all phones and parts of Kerr and VENDERA
41:14
radar indicated thunderstorms across the warned area, It said, advising
41:20
reciproents to turn around don't drown in Kerrville. The alert
41:25
buzzed on Joe Marianna's phone, like so many he had before.
41:30
Marina was awake pre prepping food for the expected holiday
41:33
rush at his restaurants, builds barbecue and didn't pay much attention.
41:38
He mostly ignored Weather Service alerts, especially when they sound
41:42
at night. He said, no one is paying much mind.
41:46
At two three four o'clock in the morning, he said
41:50
conditions worsened over the next hour. When I posted on
41:54
Slack that radars showed downpas dropping two to four inches
41:57
an hour. A local NBC news staff for monitoring the
42:01
channel asked how far the flash flood mornings might expand
42:05
Runyon was focused on Kerr and to twenty eight am.
42:08
Running wrote that Kerr had received two hundred percent of
42:12
the rainfall needed to trigger flash flooding and that flooding
42:15
had likely begun an emergency manager from nearby Hayes County
42:22
and one from Missouri reacted with the mojis. There was
42:26
no reply or acknowledgement from any Kerr County officials. According
42:30
to the archives slack messages reviewed by the Post that time,
42:35
the Guadalupe River was rising. In the hour between one
42:38
twenty five am and two twenty five am, the water
42:41
level rows a foot above normal to eight point seven feet.
42:45
According to records from a river gauge directly east of Hunt,
42:50
it was just the beginning. Over the next hour, the
42:53
river rose more than six feet. Gauge data shows the
42:58
three am run ying was zeroing in on Hunt. A
43:02
very dangerous flash flood event is unfolding across south central
43:06
Kerr County, he wrote on Slacket two minutes after the hour,
43:09
and Hunt was near the Bonseye worst. The rain was
43:13
showing no sign of letting up, he noted. Runyon wrote
43:17
that Hunt was in a minor flood stage and might
43:19
reach moderate later this morning, he wrote. Twenty minutes later,
43:24
at three fifty six am, flooding at Hunt had moved
43:27
beyond moderate and into a major flood stage, Runyan wrote.
43:31
He added that the Weather Service was about to issue
43:34
another alert through IPAUS to residents' bones and Kerr and
43:37
Bendera Counties. This one a flash flood emergency, categorized as catastrophic.
43:46
Several lines into the text message the morning was urgent.
43:50
Moved to higher ground now, this is an extremely dangerous
43:54
and life threatening situation. It read it is important to
43:59
know where you are relative to streams, rivers or creeks,
44:02
which can become killers in heavy rains. Campers and hikers
44:07
should avoid streams or creeks. Runyon's message on slack. The
44:12
Public Weather Service alerts and the surging river gages weren't
44:16
the only signs that this situation in Kerr County was
44:19
becoming life threatening. Around that time, John Trollinger, a former
44:24
Kerr County information technology official, said he was listening with
44:28
increasing despair to radio communications from firefighters and first responders
44:34
who described the disaster as it unfolded. Trollingeter recorded many
44:40
of the transmissions and provided copies to the Post. At
44:44
three twenty seven am, volunteer firefighters radio dispatchers had reported
44:48
that the Guadalupe River was starting to come up, and
44:52
that Schimacher crossing of a loved swimming hole between Ingram
44:56
and Hunt was no longer passable, according to a recording
44:59
of the radio call. Shortly after first responders rescued someone
45:05
from the water, dispatches began fielding calls from flooded houses.
45:10
Over the next two hours, there were at least seventeen
45:13
different radio transmissions referring to rescues, according to a post
45:17
review of Trollinger's recordings. At four twenty two am, a
45:22
local filefighter told dispatches they should send a code red
45:25
alert to tell residents and Hunt to find higher ground.
45:30
A minute later, the dispatcher's voice crackled back, stand by,
45:34
we need to get that. Get that approved by our supervisor.
45:38
Texas Public Radio first reported the exchange. Call after call,
45:43
the radio transmissions of emergency of personnel captured the growing disaster.
45:49
First Responders described children trapped on roofs, an R and
45:52
V full of people floating down the river, frantic attempts
45:56
to evacuate the campground, and a child an adult screw
46:00
for help. About four thirty five am, the river level
46:04
had surged above twenty nine feet near Hunt. Shortly after that,
46:09
the gauge was destroyed as the water continued to rise.
46:13
The geological survey crews later measured the high water market
46:16
thirty seven point fifty two feet, surpassing the river's previous
46:22
record level set in July of nineteen thirty two. Kirk
46:27
County officials made their first public comment. At five thirty
46:31
one eight m someone posted on the Kerr County Facebook
46:35
page that the river gauge had gone offline and that
46:39
flooding was happening now. Minutes later, at five point thirty
46:44
two am, the Kirk County Sheriff's Office urged on its
46:48
Spacebook page that people near the river should move to
46:52
higher ground immediately. Two and a half days after the flooding,
46:57
as rains continued, Kirk officials at the first evacuation order
47:02
through ie pause high confidants of river flooding again. The
47:07
message sent from Thomas's email address at to fifty eight
47:11
pm on July six, evacuate the Guadalupe River and lower
47:16
eyeing areas moved to higher ground. The next front page
47:22
article entitled Investigations. He may have stopped Trump's would be assassin.
47:30
Now he's telling his story in his first extensive medior
47:34
interviews since the assassination attempt. Aaron Zelpony, a forty six
47:40
year old Army combat veteran recounted firing the ninth shot.
47:46
There is a picture of him in a blue T shirt.
47:51
It's probably size of the extra extra large because he's
47:53
a very muscled man with tattooing on his left arm.
47:59
He has a ball cap on with sunglasses above the visor,
48:03
which is shaped into an archway. He has a beard
48:09
laced with white at the bottom of his chin, and
48:12
a mustache. He's got sort of eyes like mine. They
48:17
are not wide and bright, they are narrow and little eyes.
48:23
He has a watcher on and his hands are crossed
48:26
in front of him, and it says Alan Zelopony recourned
48:30
the moments before, during, and after the assassination attempt on
48:34
Donald Trump last summer by Sean Boberg out of Adams, PA.
48:40
As gunfire erupted at Donald Trump's campaign rally in Butler
48:45
last July, Aaron Zelophony glanced up and caught sight of
48:49
the shooter's head and shoulders jutting above the peak of
48:52
a roofline about one hundred and fifteen yards away. The
48:56
Butler County swat team operator, standing in an open field
49:00
between the gunman and the rally stage, snapped up his
49:04
rifle alioned the red dot of its scope with the
49:07
shooter's chin and fired a single shot. Would be assassin
49:11
Thomas Matthew Crooks immediately jerked to his right and slumped
49:16
back from the roof's edge. Zalaponi recalled ending his volley
49:20
of eight gun shots over five seconds that left Trump bloodied,
49:25
one rally go a dead, and two seriously injured. I
49:30
just got you, Xalaponi recalled, thinking. Zealoponi, a forty six
49:35
year old Army combat veteran, is convinced that his round,
49:39
which public officials have called the ninth shot, struck Crook's
49:44
rifle and forced him to stop shooting. His belief that
49:48
he cut short the assassination attempt has been echoed by
49:52
Butler County's district attorney, the county's swat team commander, and
49:57
a congressman who investigated the events that day. Yet one
50:02
year later, the significance of Xalopony's shot is still unresolved.
50:06
The FBI has said it found no forensic evidence that
50:10
the ninth shot hit Crooks or his rifle. What is
50:13
certain is that Crooks, who had additional ammunition and an
50:17
ar style rifle that was still operational, never fired again.
50:22
Salapony shot was followed by a ten second Pawson gun
50:26
fire that ended when a US Secret Service counter sniper
50:30
killed crooks. In the months after the assassination attempt, the
50:35
nation's attention and multiple investigations focused on the Secret Service's
50:41
most glaring security failure in decades, and on vexine questions
50:45
about the shooter's possible motives. The story of the local
50:49
officer's quick and decisive action amid chaos was largely overshadowed.
50:55
Zaloponi's account has been documented in closed door interviews with
50:59
congressional and mining investigators, and celebrated quietly within his SWAT team.
51:04
The Washington Post were put it on the ninth shot
51:07
last July, but did not identify Zalapony, who declined to
51:11
interview requests through an intermediary at the time. The father
51:16
of two who grew up about two miles from the
51:19
Butler Farms Show rally site, he joined the Pennsylvania Army
51:23
National Guard after high school and was deployed on three
51:26
combat tours overseas. In twenty eleven, he became a police
51:31
officer in rural Adams Township, where he is now a
51:35
sergeant In addition to serving on the county's swat team,
51:39
a six foot three and two hundred and eighty five pounds,
51:43
Zalapony is physically imposing. He is also laconic and fiercely private,
51:48
saying he prefers to keep to himself and avoid the
51:51
media's spotlight. I'd rather be on five thousand acres in Montana,
51:56
on a hillside where I can see all approaches, he
51:59
told the in his first extensive media interviews since the
52:03
assassination attempt. He reeruptively agreed to talk to The Post,
52:08
he said, because his swack team commander told him it
52:11
was important to share his story. Zalapony might not have
52:15
been in a position to take the ninth shot if
52:18
not for a coin toss, he and his swat team
52:20
commander's sergeant, ed Linz, told The Post in an interview
52:24
this month. Two days before the rally, the Secret Service
52:28
asked if one member of the Butler County swat team
52:31
would take on an especially high profile role joining a
52:35
federal counter assault team tasked with staying close to Trump
52:38
during his visit. Zalapony and another swack team member of
52:42
marine veteran were both candidates for the coveted assignment a
52:46
rare opportunity to meet the then former president. Lynz suggested
52:51
flipping a coin. Xalaponi's colleague bet on heads and won.
52:56
Xaloponi's loss left him in command of a local candor
53:00
salt unit posted in a red barn behind and to
53:03
the north of the rally stage. That's how I ended
53:07
up out there, he said. There is a diagram of
53:11
the stage of where he was standing by the stage
53:16
and showing about one hundred and fifty yards between him
53:19
and Crook's location. Hours before Trump's arrival, a local officer
53:24
sold Zalaponi he was concerned about four suspicious individuals he
53:29
saw hanging around the warehouses of Agra International, a local
53:33
business adjacent to the rally site. The four people, each
53:37
wearing distinctly covered shirts, had remained even as the propertyanna
53:41
tried to show spectators away. The officer referred to one
53:44
of the suspicious individuals, whom Zalapony later learned was Crooks,
53:49
as a gray shirt. Just keep an eye on him,
53:52
Saloponi said. He told the other officer, let me know
53:55
what's going on. At five twenty four pm, about twenty
53:59
minutes fromore before Trump took the stage, another local officer
54:02
issued in the lard over the radio, the young male
54:05
was lurking around the Agro building and had been spotted
54:09
looking through a range founder at the rally stage, the
54:11
officer warned. According to his timestamped transcript of encrypted radio
54:16
communications previously attained by the Post, police then lost track
54:21
of the suspicious young mail and called in additional officers
54:24
to help shirk searched. The transcript shows Salaponi recalled that
54:29
he and members of his WHAT team emerged from the
54:31
barn and looked toward the Agro building. Haines saw no
54:35
sign of the young male and a gray shirt. Several
54:38
minutes after Trump took stage, Lyn's relayed an urgent message
54:42
over the radio mail on roof of the long gun.
54:45
He said, at six eleven pm, Zalapony immediately ordered members
54:49
of his counter assault team to get their tactical vehicle
54:52
and raised to the complex, Go go go. He recalled,
54:55
telling them that Zalaponi stayed where he was. Technically I
55:00
should have gone with my team, he said, I don't
55:02
know what it was, but something told me to stay here.
55:05
Then came the first three shots fired in less than
55:08
two seconds, Saloponi scanned the base of the agrobilgio but
55:12
saw no shoot him. On the fourth shot, he looked
55:15
up and saw Crooks. There you are, he thought. As
55:18
he spotted Crooks lying prone with his rifle extended over
55:21
the peak of the roof and aimed toward the stage,
55:24
Salaponi raised his rifle, a standard issue m Ford swat
55:28
raffle with a red dots sign that had no magnification,
55:32
meaning his target appeared no closer than it would have
55:35
with the neked eye. He aimed for Crook's chin, figuring
55:39
it better to risk missing load and hit Krook's body
55:43
or the roof than miss high. All this went through
55:46
my head in a mill a second, he said. He
55:48
pulled the trigger less than six seconds after Crooks opened fire,
55:52
according to an audio analysis, and then Crooks had fired
55:55
eight rounds. Salaponian, experienced marksman, said he's one hundred and
56:01
ten certain that his shot may contact Cooks jerked hard
56:06
to the right and slumped over his weapon. Salopony recalled,
56:09
it wasn't like he was ducking or flinching. Something smacked him,
56:13
whether it was my round hitting the butt stock or
56:15
the butt stock exploding in his face. I know I
56:18
hit him. No video has emerged publicly that shows Crook's
56:22
immediate reaction to the ninth shot. A shaky video taken
56:26
by a rally attendee captures a moment shortly after the
56:29
ninth shot when Crooks appears to have turned away from
56:32
the rally's site. His face is visible to the crowd
56:35
on the west side of the building, where the person
56:38
recording the video is standing. The video shows he then
56:41
appears to reposition himself, turning back toward the rally. Zalaponi
56:47
said he kept his rifle aimed on the roof's peak.
56:50
He saw Cook's hair emerge above the roofline just before
56:53
the Secret Service countershot counter sniper's shot killed him. Bodycam
56:59
footage leased by the Butler Township Police Department shows Saloponies
57:04
standing in the field aiming toward the agribuilder in the
57:07
moments after the sniper's shot. Saloponi ran to the stands
57:11
to help attendees who had been shot. According to Core,
57:14
a comparatour who had been killed. Zalopony was then dispatched
57:19
to a local hospital where Trump was being treated. To
57:23
secure a helicopter landing zone in case the former president
57:27
had to be airlifted. It wasn't until around ten pm
57:30
that night that he told Limps about the shot he fired.
57:34
Xaloponi said he waited until the next morning to tell
57:37
his wife. As they sat down for coffee, she said,
57:39
are you serious? He recalled, and he reluctantly told his
57:43
father after his dad brought up rumors about additional gunfire.
57:47
Not from crooks or the Secret Service sniper. That was me,
57:51
he told his father, but don't tell anyone else. For
57:55
weeks after the shooting, Zalaponi wrestled with flashbacks of his
57:59
time and I'm back and with one enduring regret. I
58:02
wish I would have just looked up to the roof sooner,
58:06
he said, maybe everyone's still there. There's a little bit
58:10
more of the article, but I don't have time to
58:12
read it. So I say thank you for listening to
58:15
today's Saturday, the twelfth of July's issue of The Washington Post.
58:22
Please continued listening to radio throughout the weekend. I'll be
58:29
back next Thursday. Ah