'Your numbers are fake': Puerto Rico newspaper slams Trump for touting hurricane aid claim
WASHINGTON – Puerto Rico's leading newspaper slammed President Donald Trump in a front-page headline that went after his repeated false claim that the U.S. has given Puerto Rico $92 billion for hurricane recovery.
El Nuevo Día, which traditionally publishes its articles and newspapers in Spanish, printed an English version of its front page on Friday.
"Mr. President: Your Numbers Are Fake," the headline reads.
"Although some politicians in Puerto Rico have indeed mismanaged funds and have let their constituents down, Mr. Trump's claims about the amount of money that has actually been assigned to the island are incorrect," read the the front page. .
Hurricane Dorian pushed past Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin and British Islands earlier this week when it was a tropical storm. Parts of Puerto Rico's eastern and southern coasts experienced some heavy flooding as a result of Dorian.
Congress has approved about $42 billion for Puerto Rico recovery after the island was hit by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. The newspaper reported that Congress, along with the executive branch, has allocated the country a total of $49.4 billion with $20.5 billion paid out so far.
Earlier this week, Trump bashed Puerto Rico in a series of tweets, saying that the island is "one of the most corrupt places on earth." The tweets came as island residents were preparing to face Dorian.
Puerto Rico is still slowly recovering from the hurricanes.
As of mid-July, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had only given the green light on nine projects out of some 10,000 schools, bridges and other damaged sites dotting the island since the hurricanes.
Contributing: Ryan W. Miller and Ledyard King
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Dorian: Puerto Rico newspaper El Nuevo Dia slams Trump
