Trump says Puerto Rico officials should be 'proud' more haven't died like in Katrina
Source: The Washington Post
By Ashley Parker October 3 at 12:45 PM
President Trump told Puerto Rico officials they should feel proud that hadn’t lost thousands of lives like in “a real catastrophe like Katrina,” and also said the devastated island territory was throwing the nation’s budget “a little out of whack” during his first visit there since Hurricane Maria ravaged the island nearly two weeks ago.
Trump’s remarks Tuesday came as he touched down in San Juan amid harsh criticism of the administration’s slow response to the natural disaster, and after he praised himself earlier in the day for the “great job” and “A-plus” performance he said the administration deserved for its response to Maria.
“Every death is a horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you at the tremendous — hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here, with really a storm that was just totally overpowering, nobody’s ever seen anything like this,” Trump said, before turning to a local official to ask how many people had died in storm. “What is your death count as of this moment? 17? 16 people certified, 16 people versus in the thousands.”
The president also seemed to fault the small island for imperiling the United States’s budget by requiring hurricane relief funds, saying, ““I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-praises-himself-for-administrations-great-job-in-puerto-rico/2017/10/03/fdb5eeb4-a83a-11e7-8ed2-c7114e6ac460_story.html
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