When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. Days after a senior republican senator referred to the white house as adult day care, the man that many believe is in charge of supervising the president , Chief Of Staff john kelly, was sent out before the press to shoot down reports that the president s tantrums are causing big problems. The day began as it often does with a president ial outburst on twitter. This one aimed at the struggling people of puerto rico. Who three weeks after Hurricane Maria are still suffering through an acute deadly crisis, many lacking access to safe water and food, and Urgent Medical care. Well have the latest from the island coming up later this hour. Today the president appeared to blame puerto rico for its current situation, threatening to cut off federal recovery efforts. I quote him here. Electric and all infrastructure were disaster before hurricanes. Congress to decide how much to spend. We cannot keep fema, the
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military, and the first respond hoarse have been amazing under the most difficult circumstances in pr forever. an agency spokesperson tweeting, fema will be with puerto rico, u.s. virgin islands, every state and territory impacted by disaster every day, supporting throughout their response and recovery. asked about trump s tweets the chief of staff put a kinder, genter spin on the president s core message. does president trump believe that the people of puerto rico are american citizens? yes. who deserve the same access to federal aid as people who live in texas and florida? yes. what is his tweet about, then? which tweet? the tweet where he says we can t be in puerto rico forever. i think he said the u.s. military and fema can t be in there forever, right? he did, first responders first responders. this country, our country, will stand with those american citizens in puerto rico until the job is done. but the tweet about fema and d.o.d., read military, is exac
three weeks after hurricane maria the government puts the official 91 of people dead at 49. but two democratic members of congress want a federal audit on that number citing recent reports suggesting the death toll is much higher than is being officially acknowledged. while hundreds of people remain unaccounted for, the president implied that he is already ready to abandon the federal recovery effort saying in a statement released on twitter, we cannot keep team mafema and military responders in pr forever. white house chief of staff explained the comment was exactly accurate, fema and the u.s. military continue be in puerto rico doing disaster recovery for literal forever. that seems to miss the point. the president suged this 22 days after the storm made landfall in puerto rico. fema was present in new orleans for six years after hurricane katrina.
efforts. i quote him here. electric and all infrastructure were disaster before hurricanes. congress to decide how much to spend. we cannot keep fema, the military, and the first respond hoarse have been amazing under the most difficult circumstances in pr forever. an agency spokesperson tweeting, fema will be with puerto rico, u.s. virgin islands, every state and territory impacted by disaster every day, supporting throughout their response and recovery. asked about trump s tweets the chief of staff put a kinder, genter spin on the president s core message. does president trump believe that the people of puerto rico are american citizens? yes. who deserve the same access to federal aid as people who live in texas and florida? yes. what is his tweet about, then? which tweet? the tweet where he says we can t be in puerto rico forever. i think he said the u.s. military and fema can t be in there forever, right? he did, first responders first responders.
we must maintain deterrence, we agree with that. but we should not go around threatening the use of nuclear weapons. this goes very, very much counter to our own interests. secretary ernest muniz, thank you very much. it s always great to see you. thank you. good to see you. turning now to puerto rico. president trump s new threat to end u.s. aid to the storm-ravaged island, those people being american citizens. it s a u.s. territory. he said, we cannot keep fema, the military and the first responders, who have been amazing under the most difficult circumstances, in pr forever. quote, disaster before hurricanes. this is days before mike pence visited the island and said the administration would stick with puerto rico for as long as the recovery takes. we are with you today. we will be with you today. we will be with you every day until puerto rico rebuilds and