White House: No Involvement in $300M Puerto Rico Electric Repair Contract

The Trump administration was not involved in the Puerto Rico decision to sign a $300 million contract to repair the island's electric utility, a White House spokesman said Friday, according to CBS News. 

"Our understanding is the decision to give a contract to Whitefish Energy was made exclusively by Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority… the White House is not aware of any federal involvement in the selection," said Raj Shah, White House spokesman, in a CBS News report.

Whitefish Energy Holdings had only two full-time employees when it signed a contract to restore power in the U.S. territory, where 3 million residents were without power after Hurricane Maria hit Sept. 20. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) also has stated that it was not involved in the decision.

"FEMA has significant concerns with how PREPA (Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority) procured this contract and has not confirmed whether the contract prices are reasonable," FEMA's statement said.

FEMA said that it had not approved any reimbursement requests to cover repairs to the Puerto Rico power grid by Whitefish.

• Blacked-Out Puerto Rico Makes Long-Shot Pitch for Amazon's 2nd HQ
• Puerto Rico Gov. Rossello: I Answered Trump Truthfully