WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday he had “no reason” to dispute Puerto Rico‘s official death toll of 3,000 from last year’s Hurricane Maria, speaking after his fellow Republican President Donald Trump accused Democrats of inflating the death toll to make the president look bad.
“Casualties don’t make a person look bad,” Ryan told reporters at a regular press conference, “so I have no reason to dispute these numbers.” Ryan noted he had been in Puerto Rico after the hurricane hit and said it had been “devastating. This was a horrible storm.”
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
Latest posts by Reuters (see all)
- Trump’s real-estate empire pays the price for poisonous politics - Sun, Oct 31st, 2021
- U.S. back with ‘guns blazing’ on climate issue - Sat, Oct 30th, 2021
- Rebuilding trust with Biden, Macron says ‘We must look to the future’ - Fri, Oct 29th, 2021
