WASHINGTON — The mayor of hurricane-ravaged San Juan, Puerto Rico, wore a shirt echoing the words of the president Wednesday. In a television interview with Al Punto Univision, Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz wore a T-shirt with the word “NASTY” emblazoned on the front.
“What is truly ‘nasty’ is to turn your back on the Puerto Rican people”: mayor of San Juan pic.twitter.com/2GVgJNqmve
— Al Punto Univision (@AlPunto) October 5, 2017
President Donald Trump had claimed in a tweet that Cruz was being told by Democrats to be nasty to him, after she begged for help for the residents of the U.S. territory in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
Trump visited Puerto Rico Tuesday and congratulated the residents for escaping the higher death toll of “a real catastrophe like Katrina” and heaped praise on the relief efforts of his administration without mentioning the sharp criticism the federal response has drawn. Cruz wore a shirt that said “HELP US WE ARE DYING” Friday, in a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper. [custom_gallery] The death toll in Puerto Rico now stands at 34. Many continue to struggle to find water and food outside the capital, and only 5 percent have power back. Then-Republican candidate Trump called Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman” during the final presidential debate in October 2016. The Associated Press contributed to this report.