TMZ article from FEMA Dir Brock Long Death Toll from PR Hurricane Maria – inflated 6 month study.
Also transcripts from Meet the Press with Chuck Todd
President Trump may not be too far off in his claim that the death toll numbers in Puerto Rico were inflated … so says a FEMA administrator, who insists deaths linked to spousal abuse in the wake of the hurricane aren't actually the hurricane's fault at all.
Brock Long – who's been heading up FEMA's disaster relief effort in P.R. and elsewhere – went on 'Meet the Press' Sunday to defend Trump's tweet last week, in which he accused Democrats of jacking up the death count after Hurricane Maria to make him look bad.
The original deaths were reported to be in the tens – but since then, a new study has found that nearly 3,000 people have died as a result of the Maria. Brock disputes those figures though, saying that study and others were all over the place and inconsistent.
He also says you can't blame indirect deaths on the hurricane, explaining that people having heart attacks due to stress, getting into accidents, falling off their roof or suffering from spousal abuse after the hurricane can't be pinned on the natural disaster itself.
Sounds like he's splitting more hairs than 45 – but he's clearly on Trump's side in this.
http://www.tmz.com/2018/09/16/fema-administrator-brock-long-defends-trump-blames-spousal-abuse-puerto-rico-deaths-hurricane/#disqus_thread
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-september-16-2018-n910001
CHUCK TODD:
Why is the White House so concerned about the difference between 3,000 deaths and, say, another report that might have had it at 1,800 deaths? I mean, you've said yourself, it doesn't matter, but the White House believes it matters. Why?
BROCK LONG:
Well, I'll tell you this, you know, one thing about President Trump is, is that he is probably the one president that has had more support for what goes on back here. And I think he's defensive because he knows how hard these guys behind me work day in and day out for a very complex situation. And it's frustrating. Those studies, the Harvard study was done differently than the George Washington study, or this study or that study, and the numbers are all over the place. And where the 65–
CHUCK TODD:
Were any of them–
BROCK LONG:
Hold on. Hold on.
CHUCK TODD:
Well, is it fair – I mean, he said Democrats did it to make him look bad. Do you believe any of these studies were done to make the president look bad?
BROCK LONG:
Well, I mean there’s, I don't think the studies, I don’t know why the studies were done. I mean, I think what we're trying to do, in my opinion, what we've got to do is figure out why people die, from direct deaths, which is the wind, the water, and the waves, you know, buildings collapsing, which is probably where the 65 number came from. And then there's indirect deaths. So, the George Washington study looked at what happened six months after the fact. And you know, what happens is – and even in this event, you might see more deaths indirectly occur as time goes on because people have heart attacks due to stress. They fall off their house trying to fix their roof. They die in car crashes because they, they went through an intersection where the stoplights weren't working. You know the other thing that goes on, there's all kinds of studies on this that we take a look at. Spousal abuse goes through the roof. You can't blame spousal abuse, you know, after a disaster on anybody. And the President's very passionate about the work we've done. He's been incredibly supportive of me and this staff. He’s actually – I bet he's probably the only president that's held two cabinet level meetings, brought his entire cabinet to this agency to show support. They come through this agency every day. And he's, he’s, he’s very supportive, which is exactly what FEMA needs. There's just too much blame going around and we need to be focused, Chuck, on what is Puerto Rico going to look like tomorrow