'Ingrates' pan storm efforts, Trump says

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- President Donald Trump on Sunday said the federal government has done "a great job with the almost impossible situation" in Puerto Rico and scoffed at "politically motivated ingrates" who have questioned his administration's commitment to rebuilding the island after a pulverizing hurricane.

Trump's latest tweets sought to defend Washington's attentiveness to recovery efforts on a U.S. territory in dire straits almost two weeks after Hurricane Maria struck. The president spent Saturday at his New Jersey golf club and on Sunday attended an international golf competition near New York City.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz on Friday accused the Trump administration of "killing us with the inefficiency" after the storm. She begged the president, who is set to visit Puerto Rico on Tuesday, to "make sure somebody is in charge that is up to the task of saving lives," and appealed for help "to save us from dying."

Cruz said Sunday that "there's only one goal, and it's saving lives," adding that all she did "was ask for help."

"I know the good heart of the American people and I know that when a mayday sound goes off, they come to the rescue," she said Sunday on ABC's This Week.

Trump, meanwhile, spent Sunday afternoon watching The Presidents Cup at the Liberty National Golf Club where he presented the trophy to Team USA and dedicated it to the people of Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida still recovering from hurricane devastation.

"On behalf of all of the people of Texas ... Puerto Rico and the people of Florida who have really suffered over this last short period of time with the hurricanes, I want to just remember them, and we're going to dedicate this trophy to all of those people that went through so much, that we love," Trump said.

Also Sunday, Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rossello told reporters that over the next two days, more than half a million barrels of diesel fuel and nearly 1 million barrels of gasoline will reach Puerto Rico. The fuel is badly needed to power emergency generators and to distribute food and other supplies across the island.

Rossello said the Defense Department had increased its footprint on Puerto Rico to 6,400 people, from roughly 4,600 two days earlier, with more arriving, and that other federal agencies were also sending more staff to aid in the island's recovery from Hurricane Maria.

Rossello also said it is time to reflect on how Puerto Rico got to where it is now, lamenting a century-long history of unequal treatment for the 3.4 million islanders, who are U.S. citizens, as compared with their mainland counterparts. Maria left the island's vulnerable infrastructure in shambles, and its battered energy grid alone could cost billions of dollars to rebuild.

"I invite you to reflect on the reality that even after the storm hit Puerto Rico, even when it was evident that it was a disaster in the United States, only half of U.S. citizens on the mainland knew that Puerto Ricans were U.S. citizens," Rossello, who aligns with Democrats and has lobbied for Puerto Rico to become a state, said Sunday in San Juan.

As a result of Puerto Rico's commonwealth status, he said, it gets just one-third the health care funding of mainlanders and battles widespread poverty. He also said the island's 150,000 veterans get unequal treatment despite a very high per-capita military participation rate.

Rossello also praised Trump, state governments and lawmakers, who he said have responded in a "bipartisan or nonpartisan basis."

SHAPING THE MESSAGE

Trump' has defended the U.S. response to the natural disaster and has repeatedly criticized the press for what he sees as unfair coverage of the situation on the ground, where power is out and many people are without food, water and fuel.

"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" done by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the military, the president tweeted Sunday.

While Trump lashed out at criticism of the federal government's relief efforts, Homeland Security adviser Tom Bossert issued an internal memo about how the administration should shape its messaging.

In the document, Bossert said that he hopes to "turn the corner on our public communications" after Hurricane Maria.

"Monday and Tuesday we can pivot hopefully to a theme of stabilizing as we address temporary housing and sustaining the flow of commodities and basic government services, including temporary power," Bossert said in the memo, first reported by Axios.

"Then we start a theme of recovery planning for the bright future that lies ahead for Puerto Rico," Bossert continued. "Planned hits, tweets, TV bookings and other work will limit the need for reactionary efforts."

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, however, defended Trump's tweets.

"When the president gets attacked, he attacks back," Mnuchin said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, adding that the San Juan mayor's comments were "unfair, given what the federal government has done."

Others joined in Trump's criticism of Cruz.

White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that Cruz hadn't visited a FEMA emergency field office in San Juan. Vice President Mike Pence said she'd visited one time, but he also chided Cruz for her "rhetoric."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Sunday bridled at the administration's continued criticism of Cruz.

In an appearance Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, he characterized the president as "speaking from his fancy golf club, playing golf with his billionaire friends, attacking the mayor of San Juan, who is struggling" to get electricity, food, water and gas to the island. "I don't know what world Trump is living in."

Also appearing on State of the Union, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who challenged Trump for the GOP presidential nomination last year, said that "when people are in the middle of the disaster, you don't start trying to criticize them. I just -- I don't know what to say."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in an interview Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation that "Every minute we spend in the political realm bickering with one another over who's doing what, or who's wrong, or who didn't do right is a minute of energy and time that we're not spending trying to get the response right."

"I hope we'll stay 100 percent focused on what needs to be done to get the people of Puerto Rico help. And then we'll have plenty of time in the future to have these debates about who didn't do the right thing or what could have been done better," Rubio said.

The Trump administration said it had more than 10,000 federal officials on the ground and that urban search and rescue teams have covered the entire island, searching more than 2,649 structures. Fifty-nine hospitals are partially operational, and 45 percent of customers have access to drinking water, officials said. Stores are also opening, with nearly half of grocery and big box stores and more than 60 percent of retail gas stations open for business.

FEMA chief Brock Long said the agency has worked to fix roads, establish emergency power and deliver fuel to hospitals. He said telecommunications are available to about one-third of the island.

"Oh, I believe the Puerto Ricans are pulling their weight. I mean, I think they're doing what they can," he said.

Trump's administration has tried in recent days to combat the perception that he failed to quickly grasp the magnitude of Maria's destruction and has given the U.S. commonwealth less attention than he'd bestowed on Texas, Louisiana and Florida after they were hit by hurricanes.

"The bottom line is at least for the first week and a half the effort has been slow-footed, disorganized, and not adequate," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Sunday on Face the Nation.

He urged Trump "to stop calling names, stop downgrading the motives of people who are calling for help, but roll up his sleeves and get to work."

Cruz said Sunday that she would be willing to meet with Trump during his visit Tuesday.

"If he asks to meet with me, of course I would meet with him," she said. "I mean, you know, anything that can be done and anyone that can listen."

Information for this article was contributed by Jill Colvin and Danica Coto of The Associated Press; by Margaret Talev, Jonathan Levin and Jordyn Holman of Bloomberg News; by Kelsey Snell of The Washington Post; and by Richard Fausset of The New York Times.

A Section on 10/02/2017