Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

‘Cheap Shot At Dead Kids’: Chris Cuomo Blasts Dem Senator For Tying Trump To Flood Deaths

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NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo criticized Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy on Tuesday for blaming President Donald Trump for the deadly flash flooding in Central Texas.

Murphy claimed in a Saturday X post that “[t]here are consequences to Trump’s brainless attacks on public workers, like meteorologists.” Cuomo responded on “CUOMO” that Murphy’s post was “a cheap shot” and using deceased children to gain political advantage against Trump.

WATCH:

“Democratic Senator Chris Murphy — I’ve been trying to get him on the show. Now I don’t want him. ‘Accurate weather forecasting helps avoid fatal disasters.’ That’s what you say? ‘There are consequences’ to attacking meteorologists? You really believe that that’s what this was about?” Cuomo said. “You really think that’s what your constituents want? For you to take a cheap shot at dead kids to score points against Trump? Wow.”

“Guess what? The union for the National Weather Service [NWS] — and they’ve been critical of Trump’s cuts and I’m not saying there’s not reason for criticism — but it’s about perspective. The union says there was adequate staff at the time in Texas, and meteorologists are not faulting the National Weather Service,” he added. “They’re noting that they began to escalate the flood warnings as much as 12 hours in advance of the floods. So shut up, Murphy! We have to see that the interests of the many are being held hostage by the obsessions of the few on both sides. They are killing us.”

Others on the left and in the media also espoused an anti-Trump narrative about the floods, but multiple meteorologists claimed the NWS did exactly what it was supposed to do.

For instance, ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos reported on Sunday that “there were significant staffing shortfalls to the National Weather Service’s offices in the region.”

However, Ryan Maue, a prominent weather man with a PhD in meteorology from Florida State University, characterized Stephanopoulos’s reporting as “[g]rotesque misinformation” in a Sunday X post.

“NWS in Texas had extra staff on duty and did their jobs admirably, as always,” he wrote.

In a separate X post on Sunday, Maue also linked to an Associated Press article reporting that NWS meteorologist Jason Runyen said the service actually had additional employees working amid the storms.

“There were extra people in here that night, and that’s typical in every weather service office — you staff up for an event and bring people in on overtime and hold people over,” Runyen told the AP.

The flooding has killed more than 100 people and over 24 children, according to officials, NBC News reported.