today and then get your response. here it is. the problem with puerto rico is their electric grid and their electric generating plant was dead before the storms ever hit. it was in very bad shape. it was in bankruptcy, had no money. it was largely you know, was largely closed. and when the storm hit, they had no electricity essentially before the storm, and when the storm hit, that took it out entirely. the job that fema and law enforcement and everybody did working along with the governor in puerto rico, i think, was tremendous. okay. so, mike, the president there essentially blaming puerto rico because it s an island, blaming their electric grid, saying that they were bankrupt. does that irk you in any way? i mean is that, at minimum, insensitive? no. i mean, look, kaitlan is a great white house reporter. maybe she can back me up on this. there was not a single request from puerto rico that came to the white house that the president did not grant.
nobody would understand calling the disaster response in puerto rico a success. nobody would understand that. an estimated 2,975 american citizens died there after hurricane maria. that is the most recent estimate, but the government still isn t sure exactly how many, and it s nearly a year later. some 3.4 million residents were left without power when maria struck. many of them had no power for weeks of deadly heat there. just days ago, the government accountability office released a report slamming fema s response in puerto rico, saying the agency was unprepared and failed to deploy enough qualified staff. that is not successful by any measure. and this is not the first time that this president has graded himself on a curve.
rico a success. nobody would understand that. an estimated 2,975 american citizens died there after hurricane maria. that is the most recent estimate, but the government still isn t sure exactly how many, and it s nearly a year later. some 3.4 million residents were left without power when maria struck. many of them had no power for weeks of deadly heat there. just days ago, the government accountability office released a report slamming fema s response in puerto rico, saying the agency was unprepared and failed to deploy enough qualified staff. that is not successful by any measure. and this is not the first time that this president has graded himself on a curve. i m being generous there. remember his visit to puerto rico after hurricane maria?
no, i m not going to no. because american citizens are american citizens whether they re in puerto rico, whether they re in texas. if i know you re going to be needing more help because of your circumstances, i should be then what should she have done? should they have sent the comfort ship down during the storm or waited until after? what would you have done differently than all the requests that came from the island mike, i think that s an unfair question. she s not a safety official and not a fema official, but go on. well, exactly. people like russell, people like general russell honor ray, who was the guy on the ground after katrina, after george w. bush realized that there had been huge mistakes and had the humility to admit that he had made mistakes on katrina. jr. honor ee has said what slow and lack of response there has been. you know, here in florida, we had elderly citizens die in a, you know, home for the elderly because there was no power for three or four
let s discuss now. kaitlan collins is cnn s white house reporter, and cnn political commentators ana navarro and mike shields also here this evening. good evening to all of you. ana, watching the oval office today with the reporters there with fema, homeland security, at first the president seemed in command. it seems like he was committed to safety. but then he veers off-course. he s flat out wrong when he says the response to puerto rico was one of the best responses ever. it is offensive. i think it s offensive. what about you? you know, i don t even know what to expect from this president when it comes to puerto rico and the response to puerto rico anymore. practically everything he has done and said is inappropriate. it was insufficient. it is offensive. and if you and i are offended, just imagine how you would feel if you were puerto rican or