President Donald Trump blamed Puerto Rico for throwing the federal government budget's "out of whack" in his opening statements after arriving on the island to tour the deadly damage from Hurricane Maria.
"I hate to tell you Puerto Rico but you are throwing our budget out of whack," Trump said while addressing officials at his first briefing about the Maria relief efforts.
"We spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico and that's fine. We saved a lot of lives."
Trump's remarks drew a few chuckles from the room. He went on to thank first responders and the Coast Guard for their role in saving lives and braving the damage from the monster storm.
In a series of tweets last week, Trump blamed Puerto Rico's debts for the island's struggles in receiving fast aid after Maria hit.
Later in his vist, Trump said Puerto Rican should be "very proud" that 16 people died during Maria, compared to the "thousands" killed by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, which in fact killed about 1,800 people.
Upon his arrival, Trump shook hands with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, whom he has been publicly disparaging for the past week.
After Cruz criticized Trump's slow response to Maria, Trump launched into a two-day Twitter tirade against her, blaming her for "poor leadership" during the island's crisis.
Trump also alleged that Cruz had been "been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump."
