Story highlights Trump touted the 16-person death toll as lowTrump said officials can "be very proud of what's taken place"(CNN) President Donald Trump squarely focused on one task as he landed in Puerto Rico: portraying his administration's response to the devastation on the still-recovering island as a tremendous success. During an awkward roundtable with federal and local officials, he touted the federal response and offered praise for those who have been most complimentary to his administration, even as many residents on the island continued to lack access to basic services and criticized the federal response. The President also appeared to jokingly blame the island and its 3.5 million residents for throwing the federal budget "a little out of whack." "I hate to tell you Puerto Rico, but you've thrown our budget a little out of whack," Trump said with a grin. "Because we've spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico and that's fine, we've saved a lot of lives."

Source: CNN October 03, 2017 16:26 UTC