FEMA administrator Brock Long refused Sunday to correct President Donald Trump’s false conspiracy theory that Democrats fabricated thousands of deaths similar to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
In an interview with Long, Chris Wallace of Fox News, the ADMINISTRATOR of FEMA, a “simple and objective question: does the number of 3,000 hurricane-related deaths dispute?
“There are several other studies related to death,” Long replied, noting, “FemA’s official position is, first of all, that we do not count the deaths. “
“The only thing that would come close to the distance, the knowledge we would have, are the funeral benefits that we are advancing. “(The legislators suggested that FEMA explain this point: the firm refused or responded to the vast majority of requests for funeral assistance similar to Mary. )
– TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) September 16, 2018
In a separate interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Long said, “The numbers are everywhere. “
“[Trump] said Democrats did it to give it a bad symbol,” asked “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd. “Did any of these studies be done to give a bad symbol of the president?”
“I don’t know why the studies were conducted,” Long said, noting the difference between direct and oblique hurricane deaths.
The administrator echoed that line in CBS’s “Face the Nation,” according to a transcript of the program: “These studies are everywhere,” he said. “The Harvard exam was conducted [and] studies a different time compared to George Washington’s exam. There is a large gap, whether it is direct or oblique deaths. “
George Washington University researchers, in an exam commissioned by the governor of Puerto Rico, decided that last year’s hurricane caused about 3,000 more deaths.
Trump falsely stated, without evidence, that the number is the result of a politically motivated calculation, indicating that official figures for the number of deaths after the hurricane were low (although many argued at the time that the first official figures were too low).
“There are a lot of numbers everywhere,” Long said on Fox News on Sunday. “It’s hard to say what’s right and what’s not. “
Trump named Long to lead FEMA in April last year. Long ran the Alabama Emergency Management Agency from 2008 to 2011, after which he worked for consulting firm Steve Hagerty, mayor of Evanston, Illinois. He’s been under investigation lately for his overcaly responsibility. use of government cars and drivers, among others.
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