Tag Archives: Puerto Rico

Vox reports: President Donald Trump met with local leaders and federal responders shortly after landing at an Air Force base in Carolina, Puerto Rico, for what was supposed to be a briefing on the situation on the island. Instead, Trump turned it into an opportunity to congratulate himself and the federal government’s response to the disaster and to say the …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump says the federal government has done a good job in Puerto Rico responding to the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, but says local officials need to “give us more help.” Trump says Tuesday that “in Texas and in Florida we get an A-plus, and I’ll tell you what, I think we’ve done just …

Via Mediaite: On Meet The Press this morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin defended President Trump over questions about his combative Puerto Rico tweets. Chuck Todd opened by asking why the President seemed “so angry in his tweets” yesterday. Trump in particular blasted San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, and Todd asked Mnuchin why Trump wasn’t showing more “empathy” for her …

The New York Daily News reports: President Trump woke up Sunday still fuming about criticism of his Puerto Rico recovery management, firing off another series of tweets attacking naysayers and patting his administration on the back. Trump has spent the weekend complaining on Twitter about the widespread criticism that his administration has been slow to help people in Puerto Rico …

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump lashed out at the mayor of Puerto Rico’s capital city early on Saturday as the row over his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria escalated. Ahead of his visit to the US territory next week, the US president used Twitter to say of Carmen Yulín Cruz “… such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San …

San Juan Mayor Carmen Cruz became tearful and furious during a CNN interview this morning after being told that the Trump administration is continuing to congratulate itself over the response to Hurricane Maria. Via Raw Story: After viewing a clip of acting secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke telling reporters this was “a good news story,” Cruz became increasingly furious …

PBS reports: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is expected to address President Donald Trump and Republicans’ new plan for tax reform in a Thursday news briefing. After significant setbacks on health care this week, senior Republican lawmakers said they were confident about their chances of passing tax reform. After unveiling a nine-page tax reform plan Wednesday, Republican leaders, …

The Hill reports: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced early Thursday that President Trump has waived the Jones Act, lifting shipping restrictions to bolster relief efforts on hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that the administration was considering lifting the law, which bans foreign-flagged ships from carrying freight between U.S. ports. But …

The Washington Post reports: In the wake of Hurricane Maria, pretty much the entire island of Puerto Rico is dark, hot and running out of supplies — quickly. Because it’s an island, many lifesaving supplies will arrive by boat. But Puerto Rico has to wait until American boats can reach its shores with supplies because of an obscure, World War …

Trump will surely be grilled about the NFL, Puerto Rico, Trumpcare, and North Korea. But the Spanish prime minister’s presence will add a unique wrinkle to the press conference. Bloomberg reports: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington Tuesday while his team back in Madrid attempts to turn the screws on a secessionist push …

The Associated Press reports: Jennifer Lopez has pledged $1 million toward hurricane relief efforts in her family’s native Puerto Rico. Lopez announced during a news conference with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday that she would give money from her ongoing Las Vegas residency to various charities in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Lopez says she’s also enlisting the …

CNN reports: A damaged dam is in danger of bursting. Most buildings are damaged or destroyed. Millions are without power, and the communication network is crippled. Puerto Rico is in a dire situation after Hurricane Maria, Governor Ricardo Rosselló told CNN in an interview on “New Day” Monday morning. “This is a game changer,” he said. “We need to prevent …

The Associated Press reports: One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit Puerto Rico pummeled the island Wednesday, tearing off roofs and sending doors flying from hinges as officials warned Hurricane Maria would decimate the power company’s crumbling infrastructure and force the government to rebuild dozens of communities. Maria, which has killed at least nine in the Caribbean, made landfall …

NBC News reports: Hurricane Maria left a trail of destruction as it hit the Caribbean island of Dominica as a Category 5 storm and then battered Guadeloupe with powerful winds early Tuesday. Forecasters warned that the storm could leave some parts of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands uninhabitable for months. NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins highlighted that Maria …

ABC News reports: Maria was upgraded to an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm this afternoon, the National Hurricane Center said, as islands including Puerto Rico brace for the impact. Maria is expected to approach Puerto Rico — which is under a hurricane warning — late Wednesday morning. Maria might make landfall on the eastern side of Puerto Rico and could …

The Associated Press reports: Hillary Clinton overwhelmed Bernie Sanders in Puerto Rico’s Democratic presidential primary on Sunday, putting her within striking distance of capturing her party’s nomination. After a blowout victory Saturday in the U.S. Virgin Islands and a decisive win in the U.S. territory, Clinton is now less than 30 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the …

TIME recaps: John Oliver turned his attention southward on Last Week Tonight to discuss Puerto Rico. The U.S. territory is in a massive financial crisis, facing nearly $70 billion in debt, with a poverty rate of nearly 45%. “Puerto Rico is like the last Tower Records: everything’s overpriced, everyone’s being laid off, and there is still a really weird number …

Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed: A federal appeals court on Thursday stated unambiguously that Puerto Rico’s ban on same-sex couples’ marriages is unconstitutional, throwing a federal judge off a case after the judge had ruled in March that the ban was still in effect. “The district court’s ruling errs in so many respects that it is hard to know where …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Today, Governor Alejandro García Padilla [photo] announced that the decision issued yesterday by the District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, holding that the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges striking down discriminatory marriage bans nationwide did not apply to Puerto Rico because it is not a state, would not …

Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed: Puerto Rico’s marriage ban remains valid and the law of the territory, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. Because Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory, the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex couples’ marriage rights does not automatically apply there, U.S. District Court Judge Juan Pérez-Giménez ruled in a 10-page decision. The judge had previously upheld …