Volunteers sort supplies for those affected by Hurricane Maria in the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 30. | Carlos Giusti/AP Photo Trump tweets of progress in Puerto Rico

President Donald Trump began Sunday with a trio of tweets extolling his administration's response to the disastrous situation in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

His positive remarks were in contrast to some of those he made Saturday, and some were met with criticism who thought they were inaccurate.


Trump's tweets began: "We have done a great job with the almost impossible situation in Puerto Rico. Outside of the Fake News or politically motivated ingrates ...

"... people are now starting to recognize the amazing work that has been done by FEMA and our great Military. All buildings now inspected ...

"... for safety. Thank you to the Governor of P.R. and to all of those who are working so closely with our First Responders. Fantastic job!"

His tweets were in contrast to some he wrote Saturday in which he assailed the mayor of San Juan and the news media — and seemingly mocked the population of Puerto Rico as lazy.

"Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort," he tweeted Saturday.



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It wasn't clear whether Trump's claims Sunday were true. CNN, for instance, quoted the governor of Puerto Rico as saying that some areas of the island remain basically isolated, casting doubt on Trump's claim that "all buildings now inspected."

A White House official later clarified that "in the case of the President’s tweet, inspections should equate to searches" — and added: "2,649 is the number of structures searched as of September 30th related to Hurricane Maria, which covers both Puerto Rico and St. Croix."

The official noted that various humanitarian missions continued.

San Juan's mayor, speaking on ABC's "This Week," pushed back against the president.

Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz rejected the president's notion she was not coordinating with FEMA. "I was in FEMA the — a couple of days afterwards, when they were at the San Juan Marriott. I was invited to visit and we have been communicating ever since," she told host George Stephanopoulos.

Cruz added: "I know the good heart of the American people, and I know that when a mayday sound goes off, they come to the rescue. They did it in Haiti. They did it in Africa. They've done it all over the world. We just want it to be done here, in a Caribbean nation that has 3.5 million U.S. citizens."

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tried to walk a fine line in the dispute between Trump and Cruz.

"I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it, to be honest with you, because right now, having lived through four hurricanes, nothing like what Puerto Rico's facing, you know, our desire is to be a voice and a force for positive results, helping people," he told John Dickerson on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Rubio added: "I do think every minute we spend in the political realm bickering with one another over who's doing what, or who's wrong, or who didn't do right, is a minute of energy and time that we're not spending trying to get the response right."