Outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has said that he secretly works to prevent President Trump-induced "tragedies," but apparently the hurricane relief effort for Puerto Rico was not one of them.
Ryan on Thursday said that the nearly 3,000 deaths following Hurricane Maria's devastating impact on Puerto Rico were "really no one's fault," reports USA Today. Trump baselessly claimed Thursday morning that Democrats had inflated the death toll in Puerto Rico "to make me look bad," falsely declaring that the estimated 2,975 people "did not die" as a result of an inadequate response. A government report found "excess mortality" from power outages and water shortages over several months following the storm, and local officials criticized the at-times botched federal efforts.
Asked about Trump's statements, Ryan said he had "no reason to dispute those numbers" from the report, pointing out that "roads were washed out, power was gone, and the casualties mounted for a long time," but he stopped short of placing any blame on Trump. "Casualties don't make a person look bad," he said, defending the Trump administration's response to the hurricane by saying the high death count was a mere "function of this devastating storm that hit an isolated island." Read more at USA Today.
Subscribe to 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.
-
Gripping political thrillers to stream nowThe Week Recommends From power struggles to deadly conspiracies, these addictive shows are nail-bitingly tense
-
What to know before turning to AI for financial advicethe explainer It can help you crunch the numbers — but it might also pocket your data
-
Book reviews: 'The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction—and a Search for Relief' and 'Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run'Feature The search for a headache cure and revisiting Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album on its 50th anniversary
-
Trump expands National Guard role in policingSpeed Read The president wants the Guard to take on a larger role in domestic law enforcement
-
Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa CookSpeed Read The move is likely part of Trump's push to get the central bank to cut interest rates
-
Abrego released from jail, faces Uganda deportationSpeed Read The wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego García is expected to be detained at an ICE check-in and deported to Uganda
-
Trump arms National Guard in DC, threatens other citiesspeed read His next targets are Chicago, New York and Baltimore
-
Judge: Trump's US attorney in NJ serving unlawfullySpeed Read The appointment of Trump's former personal defense lawyer, Alina Habba, as acting US attorney in New Jersey was ruled 'unlawful'
-
Third judge rejects DOJ's Epstein records requestSpeed Read Judge Richard Berman was the third and final federal judge to reject DOJ petitions to unseal Epstein-related grand jury material
-
Texas OKs gerrymander sought by TrumpSpeed Read The House approved a new congressional map aimed at flipping Democratic-held seats to Republican control
-
Israel starts Gaza assault, approves West Bank planSpeed Read Israel forces pushed into the outskirts of Gaza City and Netanyahu's government gave approval for a settlement to cut the occupied Palestinian territory in two
