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Trump wants to visit Texas ‘ASAP,’ official says

Posted at 5:43 PM, Aug 26, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-26 19:43:25-04

By Elizabeth Landers, Sophie Tatum and Lauren Meier, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump said he wants to travel to Texas “ASAP” to show the state that it has support from the federal government as it grapples with damage from Hurricane Harvey, a senior administration official said Saturday.

However, Trump will not go until the conditions on the ground are safe and it is certain that his travel will not affect recovery efforts, the official said.

The White House held a teleconference call Saturday, led by homeland security adviser Tom Bossert, in which Trump asked a lot of questions on a range of issues, including about flooding and mass power outages, the administration official said.

Top administration and Cabinet officials joined the teleconference call from the White House Situation Room, including Bossert, Vice President Mike Pence, chief of staff John Kelly, acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long, Health and Human Service Secretary Tom Price and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, according to photos of the meeting released by the White House.

Earlier Saturday, Trump provided reassurances about the emergency response to the hurricane, tweeting that he was “closely monitoring” the situation from Camp David as the storm dumps torrents of rain on Texas and leaves hundreds of thousands of people without power.