KSAT ABC 12 News anchor Stephania Jimenez called out the priorities of federal and state officials during disasters live on air on Saturday.
Jiminez spoke out after a fifth news conference that was supposed to be about the deadly flash flooding west of San Antonio began with yet another mutual admiration society performance by Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, and nearly everyone else behind the microphones.
State and federal officials spent the beginning of every news conference effusively thanking and praising each other and MAGA Republican President Donald Trump instead of giving immediate updates on search and rescue efforts, the status of the dead and missing people, or anything about the floods in and around the Texas Hill Country and the Guadalupe River.
Once Noem and Abbott were done gushing over how great they all were, other officials did the same, again delaying disclosing the information that the people affected by the floods needed to hear for almost half an hour.
The fifth time proved to be too much for Jimenez to listen without comment while her co-anchor, Steve Spriester, studiously avoided looking at her or the camera.
You can watch the moment here:
Jiminez said:
“What I was struck by is that we really didn’t get any concrete information until 27 minutes into that news conference where you had the governor speak, you had Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speak for a while."
"But you know what people are wanting is information."
She added:
"I don’t know what it is about people who run for federal office that whenever disasters like this happen, they take it upon themselves to first list all the names of people they want to thank."
"Um, not what we want to hear right now."
Jimenez wasn't wrong in her assessment, with actual information not coming until 26 minutes and 30 seconds into the fifth press conference that was declared to provide information to the anxious families, friends, and neighbors waiting for news about their loved ones and their community.
No one took questions until after Abbott performed a signing ceremony for a disaster-aid request for Trump, gushed about Trump’s love of Texas, effusively thanked Trump, and asked for prayers repeatedly.
Noem then took her turn thanking Abbott and name-dropping Trump. Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn also took up people's time to thank and praise everyone, followed by other officials taking their turn to fawn over Trump, Abbott and Noem.
Then the press conference actually turned to information people had wanted to hear.
Jimenez shared the sentiments of many of those desperate for news, saying:
"That was a lot longer than it needed to be. If they don’t have the latest information that they can give us, they should have said so."
"My point is that they spent way too long thanking each other. And this is something that is bipartisan. We see it whenever there’s a disaster. Doesn’t matter which President is in office."
"For some reason federal leaders tend to thank each other for a long time before they tell us what we actually need."
The San Antonio news anchor reminded the officials:
"This disaster happened yesterday and what people want is information."
"They can't even tell us right now exactly how many people are missing. We understand why—the 4th of July holiday weekend, there were a lot of people there that are unaccounted for."
"People are on pins and needles waiting."
Jimenez's somewhat uncomfortable looking colleague added:
"I worried we weren't going to get any information at all. [Officials] weren't going to tell us the death toll, how many people are missing, how many kids have been lost."
People agreed that the priority during disasters and their aftermath should be on information, not self-adoration.
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As of this writing, the July 4th flash floods in the region have claimed the lives of 104 people, including 84 people in Kerr County alone.
The number of missing continues to change as people take account of their families, friends, and neighbors.
