San Juan mayor rips Trump for 'neglect' of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria

Sergio R. Bustos | USA TODAY

The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, slammed President Donald Trump on Wednesday after he said his administration did a "fantastic job" in helping the U.S. territory Rico recover from last year's devastating Hurricane Maria.

Carmen Yulín Cruz, who garnered global media attention last year in scolding the federal government's response to the massive storm, said the administration "killed the Puerto Ricans with neglect.”

“The Trump administration led us to believe they were helping when they weren’t up to par, and they didn’t allow other countries to help us,” Cruz told CNN. “Shame on President Trump. Shame on President Trump for not even once, not even yesterday, just saying, 'Look, I grieve with the people of Puerto Rico.'"

"This will be a stain on his presidency for as long as he lives,” she said. “Because rather than come here to support us, he came here to throw paper towels at us, and we will never forget and we will always remember."

Last October, on a visit to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, Trump tossed paper towels to Puerto Rican residents at a local relief center, angering storm victims and others who saw his actions as insensitive.

Trump defends Puerto Rico response as 'fantastic' President Donald Trump says the federal government did a "fantastic job in Puerto Rico" despite the deaths of nearly 3,000 people after Hurricane Maria. Trump says most Puerto Ricans "really appreciate what we've done." (Aug. 29)

Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that his administration did a "fantastic job" helping Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria despite a new report this week that pegged the death toll from that storm at nearly 3,000 people, nearly double earlier estimates and far more than Puerto Rican government estimates.

"I think we did a fantastic job in Puerto Rico," Trump said in response to a question about the new study of deaths. "We're still helping Puerto Rico."

"We've put a lot of money and a lot of effort into Puerto Rico and I think most of the people in Puerto Rico appreciate what we are doing," Trump said.

Yulín Cruz, In an interview with the BBC, said Trump and his administration have a “ridiculous obsession” with making the federal government relief efforts “a good news story.”

“This was not a good news story from the beginning,” she said.