President Donald Trump praised San Juan, Puerto Rico Mayor Carmen Cruz while meeting with city residents on Tuesday.
Trump travelled to Puerto Rico to observe and address the widespread devastation left by Hurricane Maria. During the visit, he and first lady Melania Trump met and spoke with leaders and citizens struggling to survive without essentials.
"Your governor and your mayor have done, really, a fantastic job," Trump said while shaking hands with residents still stranded on the island.
Trump and Cruz had previously exchanged insults in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devestation. Cruz criticized the Trump administration's response to the disaster, and said people were dying as a result, the Washington Post reported.
"People are dying in this country," Cruz said during a news conference. "I am begging, begging anyone that can hear us, to save us from dying. If anybody out there is listening to us, we are dying and you are killing us with the inefficiency and the bureaucracy."
She also responded on CNN to a comment made by acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Elizabeth Duke about the situation being a "good news story."
San Juan's mayor slams acting DHS Secretary Duke's comments about Puerto Rico: "Where is the good news?" https://t.co/tEhSz1fKUS
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 29, 2017
The next day, Trump insulted Cruz’s leadership ability on Twitter, posting that she wanted everything to be done for her rather than using her own position to get help for residents.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/914089003745468417