On Saturday, in an attempt to defend Donald Trump amid the ongoing “humanitarian crisis” in Puerto Rico, Fox News anchor Geraldo Rivera challenged San Juan mayor Carmin Yulín Cruz on the specifics about the casualties on the island.
In an interview with the mayor, Rivera attempted to discredit Cruz and diminish the severity of the devastation. After Cruz spent the weekend begging for help and support in the wake of the disaster, saying, “people are dying,” Rivera refuted the claim because he hadn’t witnessed casualties during his visit.
“There are people at all municipalities literally starving, dehydrating,” Cruz told Rivera. “We have had our hospital try to go back to speed but then the electricity goes off and we have to do all the bacteria testing, which takes three to four days.”
The interview was held on the same day Trump attacked Cruz for criticizing the government’s slow response to aid the nation. Just before Rivera sat down with Cruz, he said it was “sad” that she “blamed” Trump for the response or lack thereof, and in turn used the interview to debunk Cruz’s initial comment that people have lost their lives.
“But are people dying,” Rivera asked. “I’ve been traveling around, I don’t see people dying. I spoke to doctors, they say they saw 53 patients and they had a person who was septic, but nobody dying.”
“Dying is a continuum,” Cruz replied. “If you don’t get fed for seven, eight days, and you’re a child, you are dying. If you have 11 people – like we took out of a nursing home – severely dehydrated, you are dying.” However, Rivera seemed unmoved, and asked if she wishes she said something else.
“That is the truth,” she said. “He who has eyes will be able to see it. He who has an open heart will be able to feel it. Those that prefer to be blinded to injustice, that’s their issue. I have no time for that.”
As Rivera wrapped the interview, he continued to undermine the severity of the disaster, despite an explanation from Cruz.
“That’s part one of my interview with the mayor who, as you heard, still claims that people are dying although the death count is 16, has been 16 since the storm. I could find no one dying,” Rivera said. “She was highly critical of President Trump … I severely and profoundly lament that politics has introduced its ugly head; the situation is bad enough.”
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