President Donald Trump’s visited storm-ravaged Puerto Rico and had a face-to-face meeting with the San Juan mayor he blasted online as a political ‘ingrate.’
But in an extended televised meeting with responders heading the federal effort, the president mentioned an array of federal agencies and officials, while leaving San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz out.
Trump mentioned the governor, Puerto Rico’s delegate, the Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, the Small Business Administrator, her husband wrestler Vince McMahon, and others.
He shook the mayor’s hand but didn’t mention her during the first several minutes of his meeting carried on cable networks.
Trump was to meet with locals whose lives were upended by the storm, as well as military officials, first responders, and local officials.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at Luis Muniz Air National Guard Base to survey hurricane damage and recovery efforts, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017, in San Juan, Puerto Rico
One official was there was San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who found herself on the receiving end of a Trump twitter attack after she faulted his administration’s response.
She was set to attend a briefing Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were scheduled to get, CBS News reported. The official White House schedule did not mention her name, though it mentioned a meeting with the governors of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
One meeting was to be with ‘individuals impacted by Hurricane Maria.’
In a bit of possible detente, the president declined to criticize the mayor Tuesday morning, after dinging her with a series of tweets over the weekend.
‘Well I think she’s come back a long way,’ Trump said, asked bout Cruz.
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 03: US President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One to depart from the White House, on October 3, 2017 in Washington, DC.President Trump is traveling to Puerto Rico after it was ravaged by Hurricane Maria last month. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
‘I think it’s now acknowledged what a great job we’ve done, and people are looking at that,’ the president said. The president gave his administration an ‘A +’ for the response.
Cruz unloaded last week when a homeland official called Puerto Rico a ‘good news story.’ She hit back that it was a ‘people are dying story’ and criticized elements of the response.
‘If anybody out there is listening to us, we are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency,’ she said Friday.
“We have done a great job with the almost impossible situation in Puerto Rico,’ Trump responded. “Outside fake news or politically motivated ingrates … people are now starting to recognize the amazing work that has been done by FEMA and our great military,’ he said.
Destroyed communities are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017. The aftermath of the powerful storm has resulted in a near-total shutdown of the U.S. territoryís economy that could last for weeks and has many people running seriously low on cash and worrying that it will become even harder to survive on this storm-ravaged island. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump make their way to board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland en route Puerto Rico on October 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGANMANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
‘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,’ Trump wrote in another tweet.
‘We have done a great job with the almost impossible situation in Puerto Rico. Outside of the Fake News or politically motivated ingrates,……people are now starting to recognize the amazing work that has been done by FEMA and our great Military,’ Trump wrote in two tweets.
Just 7 per cent of Puerto Rico had power, 40 per cent had cell service, and just 45 per cent had water and sewer systems running, CNN reported.