Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré drew a stark distinction Saturday when asked about President Donald Trump’s tweets accusing San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz of “poor leadership” in her response to the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.
“The mayor’s living on a cot, and I hope the President has a good day at golf,” said Honoré, who led the military response in 2005 to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Honoré made his remarks during an interview on CNN Newsroom.
Trump tweeted after Cruz criticized the White House’s response to Maria’s disastrous impact on the US commonwealth. During an interview Friday on CNN, she cast the situation as “a story of devastation that continues to worsen.”
Cruz also said she and her family are staying at the Coliseum in San Juan, along with more than 600 people. They’re sleeping on cots and eating the same food as everyone else after their house flooded.
The President is spending the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. On Tuesday, he’s due to visit Puerto Rico, where Maria killed at least sixteen people and left many of the island’s 3.4 million residents without power and water.