On Wednesday, President Donald Trump falsely claimed he gave Puerto Rico, an unincorporated U.S. territory, $91 billion in hurricane relief aide after making the same claim on Twitter earlier this week.
During his lengthy campaign rally speech in Panama City Beach, Florida, Trump touted the relief funding he's distributed to U.S. communities in recent months. "We are building a lot of things. That includes additional Hurricane Michael relief funding immediately… No games, no gimmicks, no delays, we are just doing it," the president announced to a cheering crowd.
"Puerto Rico got $91 billion. I understand they don't like me. It's the most money we've given to anybody. We've never given $91 billion to a state. We gave it to Puerto Rico, 91 billion. I'll tell you," he continued.
"They've got $91 billion," the president added. "I think the people of Puerto Rico are very grateful to Donald Trump for what we've done for them."
Trump's comments come just days after he made the same claim in a tweet on May 6. "Puerto Rico has been given more money by Congress for Hurricane Disaster Relief, 91 Billion Dollars, than any State in the history of the U.S.," the president tweeted.
He added: "As an example, Florida got $12 Billion & Texas $39 Billion for their monster hurricanes. Now the Democrats are saying NO Relief to Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and others unless much more money is given to Puerto Rico. The Dems don't want farmers to get any help. Puerto Rico should be very happy and the Dems should stop blocking much needed Disaster Relief!"
Shortly after, several news sites, including the Washington Post and Time Magazine, fact-checked the figure and deemed it to be false. Fact-checkers found that $11.2 billion had been spent, $40.8 billion allocated and $91 billion was the "guesstimate for potential liabilities over the next 20 years."
"It's simply false for the president to assert that Puerto Rico has received $91 billion. It has been allocated less than half of that, and the president is treating a guesstimate as an established fact," the Post said. "There may be valid reasons for the estimate, though OMB has not explained them. But there's still no excuse for the president to cite the number as a solid figure."
Newsweek has reached out to Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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