Texas Governor Greg Abbott left Texas residents out to dry during Hurricane Beryl. Instead of returning to his state to deal with the natural disaster, Abbott attended RNC activities, while millions of people were without power in scorching heat.
Yasmin Kahn and Adrienne Lawrence break it down on The Damage Report.
"Under scrutiny for spending the duration of Hurricane Beryl 8,000 miles away on an economic development trip to Asia, Gov. Greg Abbott is defiant — insisting his absence did nothing to hinder Texas’ disaster response.
The governor and his aides say they were in constant communication with emergency leaders and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who assumed the role of acting governor and will briefly do so again this week when Abbott departs for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
They insist state officials met every local need that arose, requested federal aid without delay and ran a well-oiled machine — seasoned by past storms like Hurricane Harvey.
Still, Abbott’s absence prompted a wave of unflattering headlines and editorials blasting his trip, and Texas Democrats are now calling for the governor to skip the convention, rather than “jetting off to applaud Donald Trump while Texans are still suffering” from power outages and property damage."
Read more here: Gov. Greg Abbott defends trip to East Asia during Hurricane Beryl
