WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Thursday questioned a report putting the death toll from last year's catastrophic hurricane in Puerto Rico at nearly 3,000. He also called the new estimate an effort by Democrats to discredit him.

San Juan's mayor described the president's claim as "delusional" and even prominent Republicans such as House Speaker Paul Ryan distanced themselves from Trump's tweets about Puerto Rico.

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

Trump's comments, which come as his administration prepares for Hurricane Florence to hit the East Coast, led both Democratic and Republican lawmakers to weigh in countering his claim. When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico last year, it devastated homes and infrastructure and left large swaths of the territory without power for months.

Ryan, pressed by reporters on Trump's tweet, said he disagreed with the president but would not comment on whether he thought Trump should apologize.

Ryan said he had "no reason to dispute" the findings of a study commissioned by Puerto Rico's government that put its death toll at nearly 3,000 people.

"Those are just the facts of what happens when a horrible hurricane hits an isolated place like an island," Ryan said when asked about Trump's tweet.

Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who has been outspoken on the government's response to the storm, lamented in a tweet that the deaths had become political. He repeated the study's findings that 3,000 more people died on the island after the hurricane than during comparable periods.

"Both Fed & local gov made mistakes," Rubio wrote. "We all need to stop the blame game & focus on recovery, helping those still hurting & fixing the mistakes."

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican and early Trump supporter, said he disagreed with the president.

"I've been to Puerto Rico 7 times & saw devastation firsthand," Scott, now a candidate for Senate, posted on Twitter. "The loss of any life is tragic; the extent of lives lost as a result of Maria is heart wrenching. I'll continue to help PR."

Ron DeSantis, a former Republican congressman running for governor in Florida, also disputed Trump's assertion. "He doesn’t believe any loss of life has been inflated," spokesman Stephen Lawson said in an emailed statement.

As his team braces for Hurricane Florence, Trump has praised his administration's responses to deadly storms – including in Puerto Rico.

More:Trump calls Puerto Rico response 'unsung success,' despite nearly 3,000 dead

More:Florence: Hurricane poses new test for Trump as he brushes off criticism

More:Nearly 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria

San Juan mayor Cruz responded, "Simply put: delusional, paranoid, and unhinged from any sense of reality."

"Trump is so vain he thinks this is about him. NO IT IS NOT," Cruz wrote on Twitter.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said he "strongly denounced" what he described as questioning the impact of the storm for political purposes.

“The victims and the people of Puerto Rico do not deserve to have their pain questioned," he said in a statement. "It is not time to deny what happened, it is time to make sure that it does not happen again."

Democrats on Capitol Hill blasted Trump.

“Only Donald Trump could see the tragedy in Puerto Rico and conclude that he is the victim," said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. "May God bless the souls of the nearly 3,000 Americans that died in Puerto Rico and may he take pity on your soul Mr. President.”

Without mentioning Trump by name, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, slammed the “cavalier” tweeting about the number of deaths in Puerto Rico.

“You have lost compassion for people who are diverse,” she said.

Trump's Thursday morning tweets focused on a George Washington University study released last month that examined the toll from Hurricane Maria. From September 2017 to February 2018, 2,975 people died, according to that study, which was commissioned by Puerto Rico's government.

Late Thursday, deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley pushed back on criticism of the Trump's response to Maria in a statement, saying the administration provided "unprecedented support to Puerto Rico." Gidley said Cruz and the "liberal media" have tried to "exploit the devastation by pushing out a constant stream of misinformation and false accusations."

In addition to force of the hurricane itself, many people in Puerto Rico died because disease and infection due to the lack of electricity and drinkable water on the island. The storm destroyed homes and and crippled roads, bridges, and hospitals.

George Washington University said Thursday it stands by the methodology used in the report and said the work was conducted with "complete independence and freedom from any kind of interference."



"We are confident that the number – 2,975 – is the most accurate and unbiased estimate of excess mortality to date," the school said in a statement.

Trump also took heat after he visited Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the Sept. 20, 2017, storm. The president tossed paper towels to Puerto Rican residents at a local relief center, angering storm victims and others who saw his actions as insensitive.

After his tweets Thursday, Democrats accused Trump of minimizing the death toll for callous political reasons.

Andrew Gillum, the Democratic candidate for governor in Florida, slammed Trump's tweet.



“No death is partisan and our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico deserved better from @realDonaldTrump before, during, and after the hurricane.”

The House Democratic Caucus tweeted that Trump "won't acknowledge the thousands of Americans who died on his watch," and added, "Even worse, Republicans have no interest in holding this administration accountable and ensuring that Congress is prepared to respond to these disasters."

A report released this summer by the Federal Emergency Management Agency identified deficiencies in the administration’s response, including that the agency was not adequately staffed heading into the hurricane season. In the months leading up to Maria’s approach, FEMA had 10,683 people on hand, about 86 percent of the agency’s target, the report found.

The report found that the island itself was not prepared for such a storm, which contributed to widespread loss of power and communications – hampering the response.

A Government Accountability Office report last week confirmed many of those findings, and also noted that 54 percent of the FEMA workers deployed last year were serving in a role they were not qualified to perform. Staffing shortfalls complicated many aspects of the response, including the effort to move people into temporary housing in the mainland, the GAO found.

“The 2017 hurricanes and wildfires highlighted some longstanding issues and revealed other emerging response and recovery challenges,” the report said.

More:Hurricane Florence weakened but not weak: What to know about its power

Contributing: Deborah Barfield Berry, Nicole Gaudiano and Ledyard King.