Miles Taylor, a former chief of staff of the Homeland Security Department who was recently featured in a political ad by Republican voters against Trump, told MSNBC on Wednesday that President Donald Trump asked him and other officials whether the US could swap Greenland for Puerto Rico because, in Trump’s words, “Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor.”
The exchange took place in August 2018 before DHS officials went on a disaster recovery trip to Puerto Rico, which was devastated in 2017 by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, according to Taylor.
“I did not take it as a joke,” Taylor said. “The president has shown deep animosity towards the Puerto Rican people behind the scenes. These are people who are recovering from the worst disaster we have seen in our lifetime and he is their president. He should stand by them. , do not try to sell them abroad. “
Peter Brown, the White House’s special representative for disaster recovery in Puerto Rico, told NBC News that he “has never heard the president say anything like that.”
Brown said that in all his interactions with Trump since February, when he was assigned to work with Puerto Rico, Trump had “supported the unusual relief and recovery effort that the federal government has launched for Puerto Rico.”
Puerto Rico has suffered a cascade of crises in recent years as it continues to recover from Hurricane Maria – which became the deadliest American natural disaster in 100 years. It resulted in the deaths of at least 2,975 people and was the third-most costly hurricane. The island is also working on ending the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Trump has not yet publicly acknowledged or mourned the thousands who died during the aftermath of the hurricane in 2017. In recent years, Trump has on several occasions also doubled down on his previous public remarks that were against funding for disasters for Puerto Rico.
Last year, hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans marched in the biggest protest in their recent history to overthrow then-Gov. Ricardo Rosselló on a political scandal involving him and a dozen members of his cabinet.
Puerto Rico was hit by a sequence of seismic events that began on Dec. 28, triggering multiple strong earthquakes that struck hundreds of homes, schools and small businesses in January. Since more than 9,800 tremors have been registered on the island.
Puerto Rico is currently seeing an uptick in coronavirus cases and deaths. The island’s 3.2 million people reported nearly 12,500 confirmed cases of coronavirus Wednesday, more than 15,500 likely and at least 356 dead, according to the Puerto Rico Department of Health.
Allocated funds, but communities have not seen much money
To date, the federal government has allocated nearly $ 46 billion to help the island recover from its multiple disasters. But most of the money, specifically funds for relief for housing and infrastructure, has not made its way to communities on the island. Puerto Rico has received nearly $ 17 billion, according to FEMA’s Recovery Support Function Leadership Group.
Last month, FEMA administrator Pete Gaynor acknowledged that the Puerto Rican island of Vieques does not yet have a functional hospital, while thousands of other Puerto Ricans are waiting for their homes nearly three years after Hurricane Maria rebuilt. In a report after the action after 2018, FEMA also recognized agencies in areas such as staffing and coordination.
HUD allocated historic amounts of funding for the island in the area of housing, infrastructure and energy, close to $ 20 billion. Puerto Rico has received less than 8 percent so far.
Brown said Trump “has been very supportive of the work of major federal agencies such as FEMA and HUD”, as well as agencies that “we do not normally think about during disaster recovery” such as the Department of Agriculture, Energy and Education, among others, because the island is recovering from all its crises.
Democratic lawmakers have blamed the delay in funding additional restrictions imposed by the federal housing agency on Puerto Rico, citing concerns about “increased corruption” and “fiscal irregularities,” as well as “Puerto Rico’s ability to manage these funds.” . “
“Corruption diverts valuable resources from the people of Puerto Rico,” Brown said, adding that the processes and oversight mechanisms in place are designed to ensure that federal aid “turns into meaningful relief for the people of Puerto Rico.” Rico. “
But recent HUD audits on local government management of disaster subsidies suggest that the reasons for stopping funds to Puerto Rico do not fully materialize.
The audits found that Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida need to have better systems for applying for and controlling federal subsidies to rebuild after the 2017 hurricanes that destroyed them. While all three U.S. jurisdictions had similar issues, HUD only slowed down Puerto Rico’s funding process.
Brown, who is visiting Puerto Rico this week, said his priorities for restoring Puerto Rico include strengthening the island’s “fundamental infrastructure” to ensure reliable access to electricity, clean water and resilient communications towers. .
He is also working on reviving the island’s pharmaceutical industry after the COVID-19 pandemic revealed “the vulnerability” of the U.S. medical liver keys, which is heavily dependent on companies abroad.
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