Trump Denies Death Toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria

Washington D.C. [USA], Sep 14 (ANI): United States President Donald Trump on Thursday refuted the Puerto Rican Government's assessment, that Hurricane Maria claimed 3,000 lives in Puerto Rico, accusing the Democrats of inflating the death toll to "make him look bad."

"3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!" he added.

Trump's comments came when Hurricane Florence was already beginning to batter the coast of the Eastern United States, including the North and South Carolina.

In response, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello told CNN, "I ask the president to recognize the magnitude of Hurricane Maria and continue working with my government to ensure a full recovery of the American citizens of Puerto Rico."

"We cannot allow the devastation of our citizens to be questioned and we cannot allow response efforts to be politicized."

The official death toll from Hurricane Maria, a category 4 storm, was raised from 64 to 2,975 in August by the country's government following a new research by George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health, CNN reported.

Maria, which made a landfall in September caused a widespread damage to the country and left 80% of the nation without access to water in the days following the storm. (ANI)

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