Trump Calls San Juan Mayor ‘Incompetent’ as New Storm Bears Down

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump revived his feud with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz as Puerto Rico braced for Tropical Storm Dorian.

Trump had a message for Cruz as the storm appeared set to sideswipe the U.S. territory: Get ready to show gratitude to federal emergency workers.

“FEMA and all others are ready, and will do a great job,” Trump said in a tweet Wednesday. “When they do, let them know it, and give them a big Thank you - not like last time. That includes from the incompetent Mayor of San Juan!”

Cruz responded that Trump shouldn’t make the storm preparations about himself or politics, saying on Twitter Wednesday that “he needs to get out of the way and make way for those of us who are actually doing the work on the ground.”

Trump clashed with Puerto Rican leaders after Hurricane Maria battered the island in 2017, knocking out electricity for months and causing almost 3,000 estimated deaths.

When Trump visited San Juan after the devastation, he famously threw rolls of paper towels into a crowd gathered at a church. He also attacked Cruz for criticizing the government’s response, dismissing her “poor leadership ability” and calling his critics “ingrates.”

Dorian is expected to target Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Wednesday. Chances are increasing that the storm will approach Florida with as much as 100-mile-per-hour winds, making it a Category 2 hurricane, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

The hurricane is bearing down on the island as House Democrats are raising concerns about the administration’s move to transfer some funds within the Homeland Security Department from disaster relief to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pay for expanding detention facilities.

“Stealing from appropriated funds is always unacceptable, but to pick the pockets of disaster relief funding in order to fund an appalling, inhumane family incarceration plan is staggering - and to do so on the eve of hurricane season is stunningly reckless,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Tuesday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Caitlin Webber in Washington at cwebber4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kasia Klimasinska at kklimasinska@bloomberg.net, Kim Chipman, Joshua Gallu

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