White House spokesperson calls Puerto Rico 'that country'

The Trump administration once again slammed Puerto Rico over what it sees as its mismanagement of hurricane relief aid by 'corrupt and incompetent politicians' after a White House spokesperson on Tuesday referred to the island territory as ‘that country.’ Hogan Gidley, a White House deputy press secretary, said the comment he made about Puerto Rico was a ‘slip of the tongue.’ Gidley appeared on MSNBC on Tuesday, where he slammed Puerto Rico’s government for mishandling aid money sent to it by the federal government. She slammed Trump as a ‘fake news cartoon’ adding: ‘Three thousand Puerto Ricans died on your watch.’ On Monday, President Trump said the federal government gave Puerto Rico $91billion in hurricane disaster relief, though this figure appears to be false Trump called himelf 'he best thing that has ever happened to Puerto Rico as he boasted about sending the island $91 billion in post-hurricane aid money ‘You should fire whomever told you $91billion were given to Puerto Rico,’ Cruz said on MSNBC, directing her comments at the president. Senate Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican disaster aid bill, saying it doesn't do enough to help Puerto Rico, which prompted Trump to lash out on Twitter 'Puerto Rico got far more money than Texas & Florida combined, yet their government can't do anything right, the place is a mess - nothing works,' the president tweeted Trump then mentioned the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló, a Democrat, said over the weekend that while the nutrition assistance in the Senate bill would be 'vital to the well being of our citizens,' it still 'falls short' of what is needed on the island of more than 3 million that has struggled to rebuild after the hurricane. Trump had already sent a trio of tweets late Monday criticizing Puerto Rico's government and the 'crazed and incompetent' mayor of San Juan for squandering aid money following Hurricane Maria in 2017.