Lenin Nolly/ZUMA
Late on Friday night, President Donald Trump continued his baseless public assault on the officially adopted survey saying nearly 3,000 Puerto Rican residents died after Hurricane Maria.
“When Trump visited the island territory last October, OFFICIALS told him in a briefing 16 PEOPLE had died from Maria.” The Washington Post. This was long AFTER the hurricane took place. Over many months it went to 64 PEOPLE. Then, like magic, “3000 PEOPLE KILLED.” They hired….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2018
….GWU Research to tell them how many people had died in Puerto Rico (how would they not know this?). This method was never done with previous hurricanes because other jurisdictions know how many people were killed. FIFTY TIMES LAST ORIGINAL NUMBER – NO WAY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2018
The Washington Post story briefly quoted by the president calls his insistence that the number was inflated “a false claim” and his contention that it was constructed by Democrats as “falsely claiming a conspiracy.”
The president’s attack comes after George Washington University’s Milliken School of Public health issued a statement standing by its research, which was commissioned by the island’s government.
Our results show that Hurricane Maria was a very deadly storm, one that affected the entire island but hit the poor and the elderly the hardest. We are confident that the number—2,975—is the most accurate and unbiased estimate of excess mortality to date.
