The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico is pushing back on President Donald Trump's insistence that last year's hurricane cleanup on the island was an "unsung success."
A short time after Trump made the remark during a brief press availability in the Oval Office Tuesday afternoon, Carmen Yulín Cruz tweeted her disagreement:
"Success? Federal response according to Trump in Puerto Rico a success? If he thinks the death of 3,000 people is a success God help us all."
Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico last September days after Hurricane Irma made a pass just north of the U.S. territory. Nearly 3,000 people are said to have perished on the island because of the storm.
While talking about Hurricane Florence, which is slated to make landfall on the North Carolina coast later this week, Trump praised the job the federal government did in Puerto Rico — despite much criticism his administration faced last year during the storm recovery, which left the island in shambles.
"Puerto Rico was incredibly successful. Puerto Rico was actually our toughest one of all because it's an island. You can't truck things onto it, everything's by boat," Trump said.
"I actually think it was one of the best jobs that's ever been done with respect to what this is all about. Puerto Rico got hit not with one hurricane, but with two."
Trump then referenced Puerto Rico's struggling and aging electric grid, which was completely knocked offline by Maria and was only restored to full power last month.
"The job that FEMA and law enforcement and everybody did, working along with the governor, in Puerto Rico I think was tremendous," he said. "I think Puerto Rico was an incredible, unsung success."
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