for the president to detract from that. >> reporter: indeed, brooke. good afternoon. the president is making his way here to austin. he's going to be visiting the state emergency command center with governor abbott and the two republican senators from here in texas as well. he is intentionally steering clear of houston and the other disaster zones, no question about that. we are in austin so there are a few protesters here, a liberal city, of course, but after the president made those remarks, he addressed a small crowd outside a fire station. let's take a look. >> immediately. thank you, everybody. what a crowd. what a turnout. i want to thank our governor. your governor has done a fantastic job. governor abbott, thank you very much. he's right here some place. he's right here. so we just want to thank your governor. senator cruz, senator cornyn, everybody, dan, we want to thank the whole group. this has been a total cooperative effort.