Ex-Trump Adviser Accuses Chris Cuomo of Disrespecting First Responders in Heated Clash Over Puerto Rico

CNN host Chris Cuomo and former Donald Trump campaign adviser David Urban got into a heated debate tonight over the president claiming that the government’s response to Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria disaster “incredibly successful.”

The segment began with Cuomo calling “BS” on Trump’s response to the nearly 3,000 lives that were lost due to the disater. Urban responded by presenting his “facts,” since Cuomo is a “facts first guy,” and went on to list issues that Puerto Rico had prior to Maria.

“With the president saying it was an unmitigated success, you know, look, there’s no way to say disaster response is going to be a success,” Urban said. “It’s a disaster. You’re responding to it, you’re trying to mitigate this disaster, and so what they did, the responders got there as quick as they could.”

Cuomo called his claims “wrong” and added, “What I really wanted to hear from you is the president shouldn’t have called it an unsung success.”

“What the president should have said is given the circumstances that we faced, it was a huge success,” Urban replied, to which the host said “that would have been untrue, too.”

“All of this stuff that Dave is saying––people knew,” Cuomo said. “They knew the vulnerabilities. It’s a territory of America, okay? It’s not some place far, far away that we only see on TV.”

Urban then played the “first responders” card, accusing Cuomo of “doing a disservice… to the brave men and women” who aided in Puerto Rico’s recovery.

“Here we go — here’s the part of the you’re insulting people if you say that the response stunk,” Cuomo shot back. “Then that’s what I’m doing, because I was there, and everybody knows that they weren’t ready for it.”

“Dave, don’t be cheek about this,” Cuomo continued — an accusation that Urban denied.

The lengthy segment went on with Urban telling Cuomo, “Shame on you for ignoring the facts,” and the host shrugging off the idea that Maria was any type of success.

As for the president’s remarks, Trump said, “I think Puerto Rico was incredibly successful,” even though thousands of lives were lost.

“I think probably the hardest one we had by far was Puerto Rico because of the island nature,” the president continued. “I actually think it was one of the best jobs that’s ever been done with respect to what this is all about.”

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

Follow the author on Twitter (@calebecarma).

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