Lest we forget –

The administration of former President Donald Trump obstructed an investigation looking into why officials withheld about $20 billion in hurricane relief for Puerto Rico following the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, one of the deadliest U.S. natural disasters in over 100 years, a new report says.

Or to put it another way, the Trump administration withheld about $20 billion in desperately needed hurricane relief for Puerto Rico and then obstructed an investigation into this brutal theft.

The Trump administration’s OMB also insisted on overhauls to Puerto Rico’s property management records, suspension of its minimum wage on federal contracts and other prerequisites to access relief funds, according to the report. Some HUD officials worried such requirements were potentially beyond HUD’s authority to impose on grantees.

Trump steals millions if not billions, and shields his billions from taxation, while he makes sure to prevent people in Puerto Rico from getting the minimum wage for federal work.

Throughout his term, Trump repeatedly opposed disaster funding for Puerto Rico while disputing and failing to acknowledge Maria’s death toll. Trump had also told top White House officials “that he did not want a single dollar going to Puerto Rico,” the Washington Post reported in 2019. “Instead, he wanted more of the money to go to Texas and Florida.”

More white people there, you see. More people like Trump there.

The federal government has allocated nearly $69 billion to help the island recover from Maria as well as other disasters that have hit the island over the past few years. But most of the money, specifically funds for housing and infrastructure relief, hasn’t made its way to communities on the island. Puerto Rico has received $19 billion, according to the Office of Recovery, Reconstruction and Resiliency.

$50 billion here, $50 billion there, and pretty soon it starts to add up.

H/t Holms