President Trump on Wednesday criticized the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, as the island braced for a tropical storm nearly two years after it was devastated by Hurricane Maria.
{mosads}The president tweeted that the government is tracking Tropical Storm Dorian and said the storm was heading for the island, “as usual.”
He added that emergency services are ready.
“FEMA and all others are ready, and will do a great job. When they do, let them know it, and give them a big Thank You — Not like last time. That includes from the incompetent Mayor of San Juan!” Trump tweeted.
Trump late Tuesday approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico to mobilize additional government resources as Dorian tracks toward the island, bringing powerful winds and heavy rains with it.
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, a vocal critic of the president and the administration’s response to Hurricane Maria, said Tuesday night that Trump should “get out of the way” and let others do the job of preparing for Dorian. She added that she felt the island was better prepared ahead of the coming storm than it was before Maria devastated the U.S. territory in 2017.
Puerto Rican officials have declared an emergency in preparation for the storm, which is expected to grow stronger as it approaches the island. Experts say it could also hit Florida as a hurricane next week.
Trump has frequently boasted about his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria in the face of widespread criticism from Democrats and island officials about its organization and urgency following the destruction.
The president has at various points called the government’s response to Maria “fantastic,” an “unsung success,” graded it a “10” and accused Puerto Rican officials, including Cruz, of being ungrateful.
Trump regularly claims that the government has allocated roughly $90 billion to the island for recovery from Hurricane Maria. But several fact-checkers have noted that is not the case and that Puerto Rico has thus far received about $15 billion.
A study commissioned by the Puerto Rican government found that nearly 3,000 people died as a result of Maria. The island adopted that as the official death toll, increasing it from initial reports of 64 deaths.
Trump later claimed without evidence that the numbers were inflated to make him look bad.