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| Puerto Rico: Trump compares Maria and Katrina deaths | Puerto Rico: Trump compares Maria and Katrina deaths |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| President Donald Trump has told Puerto Rico officials they should be "proud" they did not lose thousands of lives as in "a real catastrophe like Katrina". | President Donald Trump has told Puerto Rico officials they should be "proud" they did not lose thousands of lives as in "a real catastrophe like Katrina". |
| Mr Trump also said the hurricane-ravaged island had thrown the US budget "a little out of whack". | |
| Before landing on the island, Mr Trump graded his administration's response to Hurricane Maria as an "A plus". | Before landing on the island, Mr Trump graded his administration's response to Hurricane Maria as an "A plus". |
| Puerto Rico officials have criticised the US government's handling of the natural disaster as too slow. | Puerto Rico officials have criticised the US government's handling of the natural disaster as too slow. |
| Seven graphics that sum up Puerto Rico disaster | |
| Tuesday's five-hour presidential trip to the Puerto Rican capital San Juan came two weeks after the storm devastated the island. | Tuesday's five-hour presidential trip to the Puerto Rican capital San Juan came two weeks after the storm devastated the island. |
| "Every death is a horror," Mr Trump said, "but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous - hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here, with really a storm that was just totally overpowering, nobody's ever seen anything like this." | "Every death is a horror," Mr Trump said, "but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous - hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here, with really a storm that was just totally overpowering, nobody's ever seen anything like this." |
| In his apparently impromptu remarks, he turned to emergency responders to ask how many Puerto Ricans had died as a result of the storm. | In his apparently impromptu remarks, he turned to emergency responders to ask how many Puerto Ricans had died as a result of the storm. |
| "What is your death count as of this moment? Seventeen? Sixteen people certified, 16 people versus in the thousands," he said, referring to the 2005 hurricane that killed 1,833 people in New Orleans. | "What is your death count as of this moment? Seventeen? Sixteen people certified, 16 people versus in the thousands," he said, referring to the 2005 hurricane that killed 1,833 people in New Orleans. |
| The president and First Lady Melania Trump met survivors in the town of Guaynabo, and walked through pavements strewn with hurricane debris. | |
| Maria - the largest storm to hit the island in 90 years - has left more than half the island's residents without drinking water, destroyed roads and infrastructure and toppled power lines. | |
| Before departing Washington, he told reporters that roads in Puerto Rico are now cleared and communications are being restored. | |
| He said what is needed now is for truck drivers to get back to work delivering aid. | |
| Mr Trump also met San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, whom he criticised over the weekend. | |
| He had accused her "poor leadership" after she said the Trump administration was "killing us with the inefficiency". | |
| Last month, Mr Trump visited Texas after Hurricane Harvey and Florida after Hurricane Irma. | |
| Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he defended his administration's response to Maria. | |
| "In Texas and in Florida, we get an A plus," he said. "And I'll tell you what, I think we've done just as good in Puerto Rico." |