Gutiérrez rips Trump’s comments in Puerto Rico: ‘I wish he would stop talking about money’

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) on Tuesday slammed President Trump over comments the president made about the budget and the death toll in Puerto Rico during his trip to the hurricane-ravaged island.

“I wish he would stop talking about money,” Gutiérrez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said during an interview on CNN.

“What’s a human life worth? How do you put that on the scorecard?” he asked. “There is no cost you can put on a human life.”

Trump has been criticized for comments he made during a meeting with local officials. 

“I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack because we spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico, and that’s fine,” Trump said.

{mosads}The president also told Puerto Rico’s governor that he should “be very proud” that only 16 people have died, compared to the thousands who died during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which he called a “real disaster.”

“Sixteen people certified versus in the thousands,” he said. “You can be very proud of all of your people, all of our people working together. Sixteen versus literally thousands of people. You can be very proud.”

Gutiérrez, who just returned from a trip to Puerto Rico, told CNN he expects more people to die in the coming weeks, particularly in rural and mountainous areas of the island.

He said that millions of people are suffering and implied that Trump may not see that because he is only visiting Guaynabo and San Juan.

“That’s flatlands,” Gutiérrez said. “For those of us who have visited the island and have gone into the interior and the mountains, we know that there are people who still don’t have water, who still don’t have food, who still don’t have medical care, and you know what? They’re going to die.”