San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who had previously said her criticisms of the federal government's handling of Hurricane Maria relief were about saving lives and "not about politics," took a shot at President Donald Trump by wearing a shirt that read "NASTY" on it during a Univision interview.
When asked by host Jorge Ramos what the significance of her "nasty" shirt was, the mayor said it was a reference to Trump referring to her as a "nasty mayor." The interview was posted Wednesday to Univision's AlPunto Twitter account.
She went on to claim that Trump was the one who is "nasty."
"Lo que es 'nasty' es que se de la espalda al pueblo puertorriqueño": alcaldesa de San Juan @CarmenYulinCruz pic.twitter.com/f0U92cln0F
— Al Punto con Jorge Ramos (@AlPunto) October 4, 2017
"When someone is bothered by someone claiming lack water for drinking, lack of medicine for the sick, and lack of food for the hungry, that person has problems too deep to be explained in an interview," Cruz said in Spanish. "What is really nasty is that anyone would turn their back on the Puerto Rican people."
Trump criticized the mayor and her "poor leadership ability" last weekend, tweeting, "The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump."
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/914087234869047296
Those attacks came after Cruz said "Mr. Trump, I am begging you to take charge and save lives ... If not, the world will see how we are treated not as second-class citizens but as animals that can be disposed of. Enough is enough."
When Trump visited Puerto Rico, she told him, "Sir, it's all about saving lives. It's not about politics."
Then she wore a shirt bearing the word Trump used to describe how Democrats told Cruz to treat him during an interview on Univision. Cruz appeared to be wearing the same shirt in an interview on MSNBC that aired Tuesday night but it was covered by a windbreaker.
San Juan mayor wore jacket over the shirt for MSNBC interview but it was out front for Univision interview pic.twitter.com/Oq21kteYL0
— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) October 4, 2017
Cruz wore a t-shirt with the words, "Help us, we are dying" during an interview last week on CNN.
Brian Fallon, who served as the chief spokesperson for Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign, called Trump a racist for his attacks on the mayor.