President Donald Trump said “you can say goodbye” to the island’s existing debt. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Trump on Puerto Rico debt: 'We’re going to have to wipe that out'

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Puerto Rico’s debt would need to be wiped out in the wake of Hurricane Maria’s devastation to the island.

The president, who has repeatedly criticized local officials in Puerto Rico for their response to the storm and for their role in the U.S. territory’s ongoing fiscal crisis, told Fox News that to address the debt, “we’re going to have to wipe that out.”


“We have to look at their whole debt structure,” Trump told Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera during an exclusive interview Tuesday in San Juan. “They owe a lot of money to your friends on Wall Street and we’re going to have to wipe that out.”

The president added that “you can say goodbye” to the island’s existing debt, regardless of how it may affect companies on Wall Street like Goldman Sachs. Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy in May.

Trump said last week in a series of critical posts that the territory’s financial woes “must be dealt with,” but Tuesday’s comments served as the strongest yet from the White House on a policy matter that has struggled to gain traction among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

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Puerto Rico was ravaged by the powerful storm, which killed at least 36 people and left millions without power and tens of thousands without access to drinkable water. Maria has compounded a volatile economic situation in the territory, which is roughly $70 billion in debt.

The president’s interview on Fox came on the heels of an uneven Tuesday trip to visit first responders and victims of the storm. At one point Trump said Puerto Rico had “thrown our budget a little out of whack.”

Trump in the past week has boasted about the federal government’s response to the disaster, despite criticism from some on the ground. The most stinging rebuke came from San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, whom the president has since criticized on Twitter.

