Latino

Dems urge Trump to focus on Puerto Rico recovery amid NFL criticism

by Rafael Bernal - 09/25/17 1:22 PM ET

Democratic leaders are calling on President Trump to focus his energy on assisting Puerto Rico during its hurricane recovery after the president spent much of the weekend criticizing protesting NFL players.

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On Monday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on the Pentagon to deploy more help to the territories, saying that they “deserve to know that their government will be there for them, without question or hesitation,” according to The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) took the president to task for spending so much time “dividing the country” while people in Puerto Rico were in need of help.

“Mr. President, instead of dividing the country over this you could give support to the 3.4 million Americans without power in Puerto Rico,” Beyer tweeted Monday.

Their comments came a day after former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on Trump to ramp up his response to the damage.

Clinton urged Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis in a tweet to deploy the U.S. Navy to the island territory as soon as possible. “These are American citizens,” Clinton said.

Trump focused his tweets over the weekend on protesting NFL players, days after suggesting at a rally that team owners should fire any player who refuses to stand for the national anthem.

Meanwhile, cleanup and recovery efforts after Hurricane Maria began in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló on Sunday asked the Department of Defense for more assistance on law enforcement and transportation.

Tags Hillary Clinton James Mattis