Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that it was his understanding that San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz has not "even been to the FEMA operation center in her own city." President Donald Trump criticized Cruz after the mayor said the federal government's response to Hurricane Maria was not good enough. | Andrew Harnik/AP Mulvaney criticizes San Juan's mayor

A White House official added criticism on the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, a day after President Donald Trump’s condemnations on Twitter.

In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney questioned San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz’s response to Hurricane Maria.


“My understanding is that as of yesterday, she had not even been to the FEMA operation center in her own city,” Mulvaney said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“It is unfortunate that the San Juan mayor wants to sort of go against the grain. We’d love to have her on the team as we all pull in the same direction.”

As of Saturday, 10 days after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island, most of Puerto Rico was still without power and many of its 3.4 million residents, most of them U.S. citizens, lacked basic supplies like food and water. Critics say the Trump administration has been slow to help, with some invoking the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.

Trump has said he will be going to Puerto Rico on Tuesday. He also tweeted after his initial criticism of Cruz: “Results of recovery efforts will speak much louder than complaints by San Juan Mayor.”

San Juan has a population of about 347,000, according to a 2016 estimate by the Census Bureau.

Mulvaney also criticized media coverage of the administration’s response to the crisis in Puerto Rico.

“I’ve known from Day One that there are folks who want to see this administration fail,” Mulvaney said.

The media have not shown “the federal effort that we have in place down there,” he said. “There are more than 70 mayors on the island of Puerto Rico, and yet you seem to spend a lot of attention on the one from San Juan. I think that’s where the president’s pushback is.”

