As the threat from Hurricane Florence bore down on America’s east coast on Thursday, President Donald Trump hit Democrats for what he called “Bad politics,” with the president asserting that his political enemies had invented death tolls stemming from hurricanes Maria and Irma – which battered Puerto Rico in 2017.
“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,” Trump tweeted.
Alabama junior Senator Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) was quick to condemn Trump for his remarks.
“He’s dead wrong and it’s just frustrating when he denies reality sometimes in order to protect himself,” Jones said.
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…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018
…..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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018
Academic studies have estimated the death toll from the two hurricanes way above the numbers that Trump claimed. Harvard University declared somewhere between 793 and 8,498 lives were lost.
However, the preeminent study was completed recently by George Washington University (GWU), which estimated there were 2,975 more deaths in the six months during and after the storms than there would be in a typical year without a devastating hurricane.
GWU’s Milken Institute defended their research in a statement, saying 2,975 represented “the most accurate and unbiased estimate” of deaths resulting from Hurricane Maria specifically.
“This study, commissioned by the Government of Puerto Rico, was carried out with complete independence and freedom from any kind of interference,” they added.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California), a 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful who recently was caught attempting to mislead the American people with her opposition to Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, joined Jones in hitting back at Trump.
“It’s clearly inaccurate and it’s misleading and it’s really playing politics with the lives of people,” Harris claimed.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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