White House spokesman says referring to Puerto Rico as ‘that country’ was a ‘slip of the tongue’

White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley admitted he made a mistake when calling Puerto Rico a country.

Gidley referred to U.S. territory Puerto Rico as “that country” twice in an interview Tuesday on MSNBC.

At the end of the segment, MSNBC host Hallie Jackson asked Gidley if referring to Puerto Rico as “that country” was a “slip of the tongue, to which Gidley replied “that was a mistake … Yes, 100 percent.”

Jackson pressed Gidley on whether he thought it was a concern that a “slip of the tongue” referring to Puerto Rico was happening inside the White House.

{mosads}“No, a slip of the tongue is not on purpose, Hallie, that would by definition be a slip of the tongue,” he said. “It’s a territory and the problem is they’ve mismanaged all the money we’ve sent.”

During the interview, which focused on President Trump criticizing the U.S. territory for allegedly misusing federal money intended for hurricane disaster relief, Gidley reiterated Trump’s claims, blasting the “systematic mismanagement” of aid occurring in “that country.”

Discussing Trump lashing out at Puerto Ricans and complaining they’ve received too much money, White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley twice refers to Puerto Rico as “that country” pic.twitter.com/GbzhWOniYU

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) April 2, 2019

Trump on Tuesday continued his attacks on Puerto Rico on Twitter, claiming it spends the money it receives “foolishly or corruptly” and “all their local politicians do is complain & ask for more money.”

Puerto Rico got 91 Billion Dollars for the hurricane, more money than has ever been gotten for a hurricane before, & all their local politicians do is complain & ask for more money. The pols are grossly incompetent, spend the money foolishly or corruptly, & only take from USA….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2019

Trump added that the U.S. sent $91 billion of relief money to Puerto Rico, a claim Gidley repeated during his interview Tuesday.

“The fact is they have received more money than any state or territory in history for rebuild,” Gidley said before Jackson cut him off by saying, “That’s not true.”