President Trump started his weekend early, leaving the White House a little past 3 p.m. on Friday on his way to Camp David.
As the president left Washington to start his weekend at the presidential retreat in Maryland, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had just submitted a request for a presidential disaster declaration as Hurricane Harvey approached the coast.
Asked if he had a message for people in Texas as Hurricane Harvey approached the coast, Trump said “good luck to everybody” and gave a thumbs-up to cameras.
The president left the White House as thousands of Americans are facing a potential catastrophe. Yet the storm is a serious enough threat that Mike Pence is staying in Washington. The vice president has canceled his planned trip to Nevada and will be “monitoring” the storm and “coordinating” with Trump as he spends time at Camp David with Melania Trump, his son Barron, daughter Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Before leaving, Donald Trump a picture of himself being briefed on the storm with printouts of hurricane maps.