White House Defends Trump’s Puerto Rico Tweets: Liberal Media and Mayor ‘Tried to Exploit the Devastation’

On Thursday, the White House issued a statement claiming that President Donald Trump was “responding to the liberal media and San Juan Mayor who sadly, have tried to exploit the devastation by pushing out a constant stream of misinformation and false accusations” when the President of the United States  claimed — falsely — that 3,000 people didn’t die in Puerto Rico in the wake of two devastating hurricanes.

According to the statement, attributed to Deputy White House Press Secretary Hogan Gidley:

“As the President said, every death from Hurricane Maria is a horror. Before, during and after the two massive hurricanes, the President directed the entire Administration to provide an unprecedented support to Puerto Rico. President 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.”

The White House’s statement was in response to these tweets sent out early Thursday morning:

3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018

…..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. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018

[image via screengrab]