White House scrambles to show Trump cares about Puerto Rico The president has been under fire for appearing to focus more on kneeling NFL players than the hurricane-ravaged U.S. territory.

The Trump administration scrambled on Tuesday to show it wasn’t snubbing Puerto Rico, with the White House trotting out officials to describe an aggressive federal response to Hurricane Maria’s devastation and President Donald Trump insisting he’s gotten “good marks” for the relief efforts.

Trump and his aides have found themselves on the defensive for the president’s muted response to the latest storm, which devastated the island and left millions of American citizens without electricity, housing or running water.


White House officials have bristled at the contention that they were caught flat-footed by the severity of Maria, while Trump himself has been frustrated by the constant coverage on cable news about whether he’s doing enough, administration officials said. Trump also appeared to be particularly sensitive to perceived criticism from Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello, who publicly called for more help from the federal government — before later praising the president's efforts.

“I’d push back strongly on that notion. It’s not accurate,” one official said on Tuesday when asked about claims that Trump didn’t act quickly to draw attention to the crisis, adding that the president and his team are in “constant contact” with federal agencies and first responders.

Trump has faced mounting criticism from lawmakers, Puerto Rican officials, and prominent political figures including Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney, who alleged that the president wasn’t doing enough to help the island — and was instead focused on his feud with kneeling NFL players.

In response, the administration on Tuesday rolled out a public relations campaign.

Officials added a high-level White House meeting on the hurricane to Trump’s schedule. They distributed a series of statistics about relief efforts. They trotted out the heads of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security to talk to reporters on the driveway outside the West Wing. And they organized a meeting at the White House with Vice President Mike Pence, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Del. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, Puerto Rico's nonvoting member in the House of Representatives.

They also provided multiple opportunities for Trump himself to make a sales pitch about his administration’s response.

"I mean I think we're really getting really good marks for the work we're doing,” Trump told reporters as he met with lawmakers about tax reform on Tuesday morning. “We've gotten A-pluses on Texas and on Florida. And we will also on Puerto Rico.”

Morning Score newsletter Your guide to the permanent campaign — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

“Everybody has said it’s amazing, the job we’ve done in Puerto Rico,” Trump later declared during a during a press conference with Spanish leader Mariano Rajoy, offering unsolicited remarks at the top of the event. “We’re very proud of it.”

But heartbreaking images of devastation and suffering in Puerto Rico risked undercutting the White House’s bid to convince the public that it has everything under control. Some critics have even drawn comparisons to President George W. Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina.

"What I'm more concerned about in the next 48 to 72 hours is ensuring that we don't have a Katrina-style event,” Rubio told POLITICO on Tuesday before meeting with Pence. “I'm not claiming that's where we're heading. I'm saying I want to avoid that from being even a possibility."

Days after Rossello called on the Pentagon to provide more help to his island, Trump went out of his way during his Tuesday press conference to highlight Rossello’s praise for him.

“As Governor Rossello just told me this morning, the entire federal workforce is doing great work in Puerto Rico, and I appreciated his saying it,” Trump said. “And he's saying it to anybody that will listen.”

Administration officials echoed Trump’s sentiments. “The response to date has been phenomenal. It’s been strong to date, and we are committed to keeping it strong until recovery is complete,” acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke told reporters after a meeting about the recovery efforts in the Situation Room.

Trump also announced that he plans to travel to Puerto Rico next Tuesday to survey the wreckage left behind by Maria. An administration official said White House officials decided not to send him earlier because “we wanted to avoid disruption of critical lifesaving efforts.”

Puerto Rico is home to roughly 3.5 million U.S. citizens. While Trump rushed to visit Texas and Florida in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the president went days without tweeting about Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, while sending a stream of messages about NFL players who have been kneeling during the national anthem in silent protest.

Trump turned his attention to the devastation on Monday night, but appeared to place some blame on Puerto Rico for its poor infrastructure and financial crisis, while heaping praise on his administration's response.

"Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble," Trump tweeted. “It's old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities - and doing well. #FEMA.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hit back at Trump on Tuesday morning. "Now is not the time, Mr. President. Puerto Rico needs help from aid workers, not debt collectors from Wall Street,” Schumer said, according to his spokesman, Matt House.

Trump, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said a “tremendous” amount of supplies is flowing from the mainland United States to the “literally destroyed” island. He added that he cares deeply for the people of Puerto Rico.

“I grew up in New York so I know many people from Puerto Rico. I know many Puerto Ricans, and these are great people. And we have to help them,” he said.

The White House is likely weeks away from a formal funding request for Puerto Rico, an administration aide said Tuesday.

Still, officials were eager to point to the assistance the administration is providing in the meantime. On Tuesday, Trump approved an increase in federal cost-sharing for debris removal and emergency protective measures, a move that Puerto Rico’s governor had pushed for given the commonwealth’s cash-strapped fiscal situation.

FEMA told Congress Tuesday morning that it had 500 personnel on the ground in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and thousands of federal personnel across departments were in the areas. The agency also said that 7 million meals and 4 million liters of water were en route by barge.

But distribution of essential supplies remains an issue. That includes diesel fuel for generators that provide power for critical infrastructure like hospitals and cell towers.

Recovery from Hurricane Maria’s landfall has been slow thus far in Puerto Rico, where many are still without power and could be for months. Other infrastructure is still severely damaged as well, and clean drinking water and temporary housing for those displaced by the storm remains an urgent issue.

In an interview with CBS news on Tuesday, Carmen Yulin Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, thanked the president and praised the FEMA workers on the ground in Puerto Rico, but also indicated that aid is not flowing to those who need it most and that bureaucracy and logistics are hampering relief efforts.

"First of all, yes, thank you to FEMA. All the people that are here are working very hard. But you know, you’ve got to work hard and you’ve got to put this aid in the hands of the people," Cruz said. "FEMA is great, but if they’re not allowed to do their job, if the chain of command is hindering them, if they need memos in order to process what they are seeing on the TV, on electronic networks and so forth, then you are tying their hands to their back."

In a separate video interview posted online by the Los Angeles Times, Cruz said that Maria's "aftermath is almost more horrific than the actual passing of the hurricane itself."

Puerto Rico is without a voting representative in Congress. The island's leaders are hopeful that leverage on Capitol Hill may come from lawmakers who represent states and districts with large Puerto Rican populations.

Gonzalez-Colon said her island is without a voice in the Senate "unless it’s Marco Rubio." Rubio had told reporters Monday of Puerto Rico that “the important part is to make sure it’s not forgotten."

"We have a fundamental obligation to a U.S. territory and American citizens to respond to a hurricane there the way we would anywhere in the country," the Florida senator added.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) pledged support to Puerto Rico, too, telling reporters on Tuesday that "we are in this with them" and that those on the island are in "our thoughts and prayers."

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he hopes there will be movement "soon" on aid for Puerto Rico and other U.S. regions impacted by recent storms.

“We want the people of Puerto Rico and the islands to know that we are thinking of them and — more importantly — we want them to know that we will continue to work with FEMA, the Department of Defense, and the rest of the administration to help in the recovery," McConnell said in a statement. "And I expect we’ll hear more soon on what additional resources will be necessary in Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the paths of the storms."

Trump also pledged “all available federal resources” to Puerto Rico during his news conference on Tuesday, while vigorously pushing back when asked if he was more preoccupied with the NFL than dealing with the hurricane-ravaged U.S. territory.

“I wasn’t preoccupied with the NFL,” Trump said. “To me, the NFL situation is a very important situation. I’ve heard that before about was I preoccupied. Not at all. Not at all. I have plenty of time on my hands. All I do is work.”

Colin Wilhelm, Sarah Ferris, Marc Caputo, Nolan D. McCaskill and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

