WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz “totally incompetent” Wednesday morning, reigniting a feud between the two officials that started in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria last year.
We got A Pluses for our recent hurricane work in Texas and Florida (and did an unappreciated great job in Puerto Rico, even though an inaccessible island with very poor electricity and a totally incompetent Mayor of San Juan). We are ready for the big one that is coming!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 12, 2018
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday that the administration’s response to Puerto Rico was “an incredible, unsung success.”
Cruz pushed back against the president’s claim, which followed Puerto Rico raising its official death toll late last month from the storm from 64 to nearly 3,000 people.
“It just goes to the lack of understanding of reality that he has,” Cruz said during an interview Tuesday night on MSNBC.
Cruz also lambasted Trump in a series of tweets.
2,431 applications for funeral assistance were submitted to @fema after María. Only 75 approved. Oh yes Mr Pres another sign of success?
— Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) September 12, 2018
Pres Trump thinks loosing 3,000 lives is a success. Can you imagine what he thinks failure looks like?
— Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) September 12, 2018
Trump and Cruz previously clashed last fall after Maria devastated the island, with Cruz publicly criticizing the federal response as insufficient and Trump claiming that Cruz showed “poor leadership” and was being coached by the Democratic party.
The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
…Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
The latest back-and-forth comes amid the backdrop of Hurricane Florence, which is expected to hit North and South Carolina on Thursday evening.
Trump emphasized Tuesday that the federal government is ready to act in the face of the category 4 storm.
“The safety of American people is my absolute highest priority,” Trump said. “We are sparing no expense. We are totally prepared. We’re ready. We’re as ready as anybody’s ever been.”
