Sanders: Trump’s Puerto Rico rhetoric ‘unspeakable’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday that President Trump’s rhetoric about Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria is “unspeakable.”

“It is unspeakable and I don’t know what world Trump is living in. People in Puerto Rico are suffering one of the one disasters in the history of that island,” Sanders told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Sanders’s comments come after Trump on Saturday criticized San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz for “poor leadership,” and urged the island’s citizens not to “believe the fake news.”

{mosads}”To the people of Puerto Rico: Do not believe the #FakeNews!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“My Administration, Governor @RicardoRossello, and many others are working together to help the people of Puerto Rico in every way…#FakeNews critics are working overtime, but we’re getting great marks from the people that truly matter!” the president added.

Sanders in the interview on Sunday said people “have a right to be suspect” that race may be a factor in how Trump has handled the United States territory, which has been devastated by storms this hurricane season.

“Yeah I think we have a right to be suspect that he is treating the people of Puerto Rico a different way than he has treated the people of Texas or Florida,” he said.

Puerto Rico has largely been without water and power for days after being battered by two hurricanes last month.