• President Donald Trump pledged a relentless effort to help Puerto Ricans recover from hurricane devastation Friday after his homeland security chief stirred a tempest of her own making by declaring the federal response a “good news story.”
Elaine Duke, the department’s acting secretary, drew a sharp rebuke from San Juan’s mayor for seeming to play down the suffering.
“When you don’t have food for a baby, it’s not a good news story,” Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz told CNN on Friday. “Damn it, this is not a good news story. This is a people-are-dying story.”
Trump said Puerto Rico is “totally unable” to handle the catastrophe on its own.