NBC's Chuck Todd grills FEMA administrator Brock Long about Trump's denial of Hurricane Maria's death toll


President Trump on Twitter last week repeatedly denied study results which found about 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico in connection to Hurricane Maria and its aftermath last year, and NBC's Chuck Todd is on the case.
He grilled Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator Brock Long on the subject Sunday, asking whether FEMA accepts that estimate or if Brock believes the president's claim that Democrats commissioned the study to make him look bad. Long gave a scattershot of answers, including:
- "So, the numbers are all over the place."
- "FEMA doesn't count deaths."
- "The deaths that are verified by the local county coroners are the ones that we take."
- "One death is a death too many."
- "[O]ne thing about President Trump is, is that he is probably the one president that has had more support for what goes on back here."
- "I don't know why the studies were done."
In perhaps his most unfortunate turn of phrase, Long noted that "spousal abuse goes through the roof" after a natural disaster," and added, "You can't blame spousal abuse, you know, after a disaster on anybody." Well, anybody except the spousal abuser.
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.
Watch an excerpt of Long's comments below, and read his full remarks in context here. Bonnie Kristian
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Can US tourism survive Trump's policies?
Today's Big Question The tourist economy is 'heading in the wrong direction'
-
September's books tell of friendship in middle age, teachers versus fascists, and Covid psychosis
the week recommends September books include Angela Flournoy's 'The Wilderness,' Randi Weingarten's 'Why Fascists Fear Teachers' and Patricia Lockwood's 'Will There Ever Be Another You'
-
'Total rat eradication in New York has been deemed impossible'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
-
Florida aims to end all state vaccine requirements
Speed Read Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to cut vaccine access and install anti-vaccine activists at the FDA and CDC
-
US kills 11 on 'drug-carrying boat' off Venezuela
Speed Read Trump claimed those killed in the strike were 'positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists' shipping drugs to the US
-
Trump vows to send federal forces to Chicago, Baltimore
Speed Read The announcement followed a California judge ruling that Trump's LA troop deployment was illegal
-
Trump crypto token launch earns family billions
Speed Read The World Liberty Financial token is now the Trump family's 'most valuable asset'
-
RFK Jr. names new CDC head as staff revolt
Speed Read Kennedy installed his deputy, Jim O'Neill, as acting CDC director
-
DC prosecutors lose bid to indict sandwich thrower
Speed Read Prosecutors sought to charge Sean Dunn with assaulting a federal officer