San Juan Mayor Rips Trump’s Puerto Rico Boast: He’s ‘Lying Through His Teeth’
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz appeared on MSNBC Live today with host Ali Velshi to discuss President Donald Trump‘s remarks today on news that the death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria was actually 2,975, rather than the previous official toll of 64.
Trump said the government “did a fantastic job.” Cruz vehemently disagreed.
Velshi first pointed out that Cruz has said ever since the disaster first struck the island that the response was inadequate, and since the death toll numbers were reported last year that the government was not telling the truth about the numbers. He asked whether she felt vindicated by the new information.
“First of all, this is a very painful day and shameful day for Puerto Rico, I hoped I wasn’t right,” said Cruz. She said the President and the White House giving themselves accolades proves they just don’t get it. “These are 2,975 people that will no longer see the light of day. These are parents, children, grandchildren, grandparents. People whose lives will never be the same, and the onset of fear and lack of dignity in which the Trump Administration continues to treat the people of Puerto Rico makes you mad, makes you angry, and makes you realize that this man, it’s not that he doesn’t want to get it, is that he is incapable of feeling solidarity and empathy.”
Velshi played then a clip of the President today remarking on there having already been a problem with power in Puerto Rico, and that his administration has “put a lot of money into Puerto Rico” and that “most of the people appreciate what we’ve done.”
“The President’s implication that the electricity generation was not there before the hurricane, I think that’s just entirely not true,” said Velshi.
“Well it’s a lie,” replied Cruz. “He just simply is lying through his teeth.”
“He’s trying to appease his own mind and his soul,” she continued, adding, “if he has one.”
Later in the interview, Cruz said if they were waiting for the “heartless” Trump administration, the people of Puerto Rico “would still be dying.”
She also pointed out that the work is not close to finished. “If a hurricane, category one, should hit Puerto Rico right now, we’d be in a worse circumstance than we were before,” she said, indicating how much is left to do.
Watch the video above, courtesy of MSNBC.
[Featured image via screengrab]
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