Dem Rep. Darren Soto: Trump Admin Is Underreporting Puerto Rico Death Toll For Political Gain
by Joe DePaolo | 9:20 pm, October 12th, 2017
Last week, President Donald Trump maintained that he was “just very proud” of the death toll resulting from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. That number stood at 16 at the time of Trump’s comment, and it has since risen to 45. But one Congressman thinks that number might actually be a lot higher. And he believes the Trump administration could be working to keep the real number hidden.
Appearing on S.E. Cupp Unfiltered Thursday, Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) gave his reasoning for why he believes the death toll is much higher than the public knows.
“We’ve heard stories of people having to bury their loved ones in the backyard and not being reported,” Soto said. “People dying in hospitals of all sorts of diseases.” And then he lobbed a serious accusation at the White House.
“I think they’re really holding back on this to try to keep the news out of the media.”
Cupp pressed Soto on this, and the Congressman cited a report that FEMA removed (and then restored) statistics about the recovery effort which were unflattering to the White House.
“We saw them scrub their website,” Soto said. “From the number of people who had power, the number of people who had telephone service back. It’s obviously something we’re concerned about. That there is either a slow go in reporting by the administration, or it’s something worse.”
video
https://www.mediaite.com/online/dem-rep-darren-soto-trump-admin-is-underreporting-puerto-rico-death-toll-for-political-gain/