Donald Trump has denied that nearly 3,000 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, claiming that the figure contained in a study on the death toll was made up by Democrats seeking to undermine him.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Trump said the death toll was “anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths” in the immediate wake of the storm, and that as time went on, that figure “did not go up by much”.
“Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3,000,” Trump wrote, adding: “This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The comments drew immediate anger from San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who called Trump’s claim “delusional, paranoid, and unhinged from any sense of reality”, the Independent says.
The White House issued a statement defending the comments, saying Trump was “responding to the liberal media and the San Juan Mayor who sadly, have tried to exploit the devastation by pushing out a constant stream of misinformation and false accusations”.
Several senior Republicans including Paul Ryan and Florida governor Rick Scott, moved to distance themselves from Trump’s dismissal of research carried out by George Washington University.
The Washington Post says the US president has been “easily distracted this week by cable news commentary about his mismanagement of Maria”, while his administration worked to prepare for Hurricane Florence to hit the Carolinas.
White House staff have reportedly been using large, colourful charts during disaster briefings to provide education about hurricanes to Trump, because he is a “visual learner”.
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
Calls for both calm and consequences follow Kirk killingTALKING POINTS The suspected assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk has some public figures pleading for restraint, while others agitate for violent reprisals
-
Why does Donald Trump keep showing up at major sporting events?Today's Big Question Trump has appeared at the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 and other events
-
‘Democracy is under threat globally’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Former top FBI agents sue, claiming Trump purgeSpeed Read The agents alleged they were targeted by a “campaign of retribution”
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
Judge lets Cook stay at Fed while appealing ousterSpeed Read Trump had attempted to fire Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
