U.S. President Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to deny a report that 3,000 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017.

“When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000.” Trump wrote on Twitter.

While the storm was directly and immediately responsible for a smaller number of deaths, an independent report placed the number of deaths blamed on the hurricane at 3,000. That includes deaths as a result of infrastructure failures that came as a result of the hurricane.

He also said the Democrats were “trying to make [him] look bad” by reporting the high numbers of deaths.

READ MORE: Trump’s boasts about ‘great’ hurricane response in Puerto Rico slammed as ‘blatantly false’

“This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!” he wrote.

The report was commissioned by the Puerto Rican government and compiled by researchers with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.

READ MORE: Death toll from Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria raised from 64 to almost 3,000

The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital, slammed Trump for the comments almost immediately.

“This is what denial following neglect looks like: Mr Pres in the real world people died on your watch,” Carmen Yulin Cruz said on Twitter. “YOUR LACK OF RESPECT IS APPALLING!”

She also said Trump was trying to bully Puerto Rico with his tweets and called him “delusional, paranoid, and unhinged from any sense of reality.”

“Trump is so vain he thinks this is about him. NO IT IS NOT,” she wrote.

Hurricane Maria hit on Sept. 20, 2017, about two weeks after Hurricane Irma hit the island.

Trump visited the island on Oct. 3, when the death toll was listed at 16, and he congratulated the island on avoiding “a real catastrophe like Katrina.”

But just after he left Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello updated the death toll to 34, nearly doubling it, saying 19 people died as a direct result of the storm and the others died as an indirect result.

As the days went by, the death toll kept increasing, eventually reaching 64.

In mid-August, the island dramatically upped that number to 1,400 people, saying the additional deaths resulted from the effects of a storm that led to a “cascading failures” in infrastructure across the island of 3.3 million people. (Maria devastated the island’s power grid and roads, making delivering help to those in need very difficult.)

Later in August, the aforementioned independent report put the death toll of the 2017 storm at nearly 3,000 people — most of whom died after the storm due to complications from widespread power outages and water shortages. Rossello officially updated the island’s death toll with the new information.

But Trump has continued to praise his own government’s response to the disaster in Puerto Rico.

On Tuesday, when asked if there were lessons to be learned from the 2017 storm ahead of this year’s hurricane season, Trump called the response to Maria “one of the best jobs that’s ever been done with respect to what this is all about.”

“The job that FEMA, and law enforcement and everybody did working along with the governor in Puerto Rico, I think was tremendous,” Trump added. “I think that Puerto Rico was an incredible, unsung success.”

WATCH: Latest news videos as U.S. braces for Hurricane Florence </s> President Donald Trump washed his hands of any responsibility for the nearly 3,000 deaths caused by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last fall, even blaming Democrats for manipulating the figures to make him look bad.

In two tweets this morning, with Hurricane Florence barreling toward the eastern coast, Trump not only disputed the revised death toll of 2,975 confirmed by a government study, but suggested that everything on the island was just fine when he visited immediately after the storm.

“3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico,” Trump tweeted (see tweets below). “When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000…”

A second tweet continued: “…..This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!”

Actress Mia Farrow was one of the first to twitter-respond to Trump’s reality-shirking tweets: “Your inept response to the catastrophe in Puerto Rico caused the deaths of nearly 3000 American men, women and children. You dismissed the gravity of their predicament and utterly failed in your responsibility as president. This is a stain you must bear for the rest of your life.”

CNN’s Jake Tapper tweeted that Trump is “Apparently of the belief that the death toll is about him and not about approximately 3,000 dead American citizens.”

Earlier this week, Trump called his government’s response to the historic Puerto Rican disaster an “unsung success.” </s> WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected the widely accepted conclusion that nearly 3,000 died in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria, arguing without evidence that the number was wrong and calling it a plot by Democrats to make him look bad.

As Hurricane Florence approached the Carolinas, Trump tweeted Thursday a fresh fight over the administration’s response in Puerto Rico, tweeting: “When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000.”

Trump added: “This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico.”

Puerto Rico’s governor last month raised the U.S. territory’s official death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 after an independent study found that the number of people who succumbed in the sweltering aftermath had been severely undercounted.

The estimate of nearly 3,000 dead in the six months after Maria devastated the island in September 2017 and knocked out the entire electrical grid was made by researchers with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. The study says the original estimates were so low because doctors on the island had not been trained to properly classify deaths after a natural disaster.

The elderly and impoverished were hardest hit by the hurricane. </s> Trump says 3,000 did not die in Puerto Rico hurricane, claims Democrats manipulated numbers

An independent study, commissioned by the island's government, found that an estimated 2,975 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. </s> WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump questioned a report Thursday saying that nearly 3,000 people died as a result of the catastrophic hurricane that hit Puerto Rico last year, calling it an effort by Democrats to discredit him.

Trump provided no evidence to back up his efforts to cast doubt on the report, commissioned by Puerto Rico's government, that examined the deaths caused by Hurricane Maria. Nor did he offer evidence that his political opponents had worked to skew it.

"This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico," Trump tweeted. "If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!"

More: Donald Trump calls Puerto Rico response an 'unsung success,' despite nearly 3,000 dead

More: Florence: Hurricane poses new test for Trump as he brushes off criticism over Puerto Rico. 'We're ready'

More: Nearly 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria

As his team braces for Hurricane Florence to hit the east coast, Trump has praised his previous responses to deadly storms – including Puerto Rico.

Trump's Thursday morning tweets focused on a George Washington University study released last month that found nearly 3,000 people died in Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year. From September 2017 to February 2018, 2,975 people died, according to that study, which was commissioned by Puerto Rico's government.

Lawmakers accused Trump of politicizing the Puerto Rican deaths, and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz took to Twitter herself to blast Trump.

“This is what denial following neglect looks like: Mr Pres in the real world people died on your watch. YOUR LACK OF RESPECT IS APPALLING!” she said in one post.

Yulín Cruz, who has sparred with Trump on Twitter and on CNN and the BBC, fired off more tweets condemning Trump’s false statement that 3,000 people did not die following Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.

“Mr President no matter how much you try your “true colors” come shining thru. Unfortunately you just can’t help it. You just can’t get it,” she wrote. “Mr Trump you can try and bully us with your tweets BUT WE KNOW OUR LIVES MATTER. You will never take away our self respect. Shame on you!”

Andrew Gillum, the Democratic candidate for governor in Florida, expressed outrage over Trump's tweet. 

 

 “No death is partisan and our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico deserved better from @realDonaldTrump before, during, and after the hurricane.”

The House Democratic Caucus tweeted that Trump "won't acknowledge the thousands of Americans who died on his watch," and added: "Even worse, Republicans have no interest in holding this administration accountable and ensuring that Congress is prepared to respond to these disasters." </s> Donald Trump has rejected the widely accepted death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria and claimed without citing evidence that “3,000 people did not die”.

Mr Trump called the death toll a move by Democrats to make him look bad.

The US president tweeted on Thursday as Hurricane Florence bears down on the Carolinas.

He said: “When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000…”

Puerto Rico’s governor raised the US territory’s official death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 after an independent study found the number of people who died in the aftermath had been severely under-counted.

Maria devastated the island in September 2017 and knocked out the entire electricity grid.

Researchers from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University said the original estimates were so low because doctors on the island had not been trained to properly classify deaths after a natural disaster.

The elderly and impoverished were hardest hit by the hurricane. </s> President Donald Trump blamed Democrats for the "really large number" of deaths reported in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria last year, saying that "3000 people did not die," despite a government-funded study finding similar numbers.

Trump said in a tweet on Thursday morning that when he visited the island following the hurricane last year, the death count was much lower.

"3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico," he said. "When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000…"

He then added: "This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!"

A woman tries to walks out from her house after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in Salinas, Puerto Rico on September 21, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Trump visited the island and evaluated relief efforts after Hurricane Maria hit the island. His visit came after local officials in Puerto Rico, including San Juan Mayor Carmin Yulín Cruz, argued he was not doing enough to help.

The initial official death toll recorded that 64 people were killed as a result of the hurricane, but reports of many more deaths than that poured in the months after the hurricane. A government-funded study later found the number to be much higher.

The study commissioned by the Puerto Rico government released in late August found that 2,975 people had died in the wake of the storm. It found that Hurricane Maria was the second deadliest storm in US history.

A separate study published in August found that 1,139 people died in hurricane-related deaths, and the authors called that estimate "conservative."

In a tweet responding to Trump's claims on Thursday, Yulín Cruz hit back.

"This is what denial following neglect looks like: Mr Pres in the real world people died on your watch," she said. "YOUR LACK OF RESPECT IS APPALLING!"

Earlier this week, Trump faced criticism after boasting about his administration's efforts in Puerto Rico, saying they were "incredibly successful."

"It was one of the best jobs that's ever been done with respect to what this is all about," he said.

His comments came as Hurricane Florence approached the east coast. The storm was downgraded from a category 4 to a category 2 on Thursday, but forecasters are still predicting devastating flooding across the Carolinas from storm surge and heavy rains. </s> SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Gov. Ricardo Rossello is raising Puerto Rico's official toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 in response to a new, government-commissioned study finding deaths from the storm were severely undercounted.

He's also creating a commission to implement recommendations in the new report, and creating a registry of the people expected to be most vulnerable in a future storm, such as the elderly, bedridden or kidney-dialysis patients.

The new estimate of 2,975 dead in the six months after Maria devastated the island in September 2017 was made by researchers with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. It was released Tuesday.

The new estimate of 2,975 dead in the six months after Maria devastated the island in September 2017 and knocked out the entire electrical grid was made by researchers with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. It was released Tuesday.

"We are hopeful that the government will accept this as an official death toll," said Lynn Goldman, dean of the institute. "A lesson from this is that efforts for assistance and recovery need to focus as much as possible on lower-income areas, on people who are older, who are more vulnerable."

The finding is almost twice the government's previous estimate, included in a recent report to Congress, that there were 1,427 more deaths than normal in the three months after the storm.

The George Washington researchers said the official count from the Sept. 20 hurricane was low in part because doctors were not trained in how to classify deaths after a disaster.

The number of deaths from September 2017 to February 2018 was 22 percent higher than the same period in previous years, Goldman said.

The number of dead has political implications for the Trump administration, which was accused of responding half-heartedly to the disaster. Shortly after the storm, when the official death toll stood at 16, President Donald Trump marveled over the small loss of life compared to that of "a real catastrophe like Katrina."

Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005, was directly responsible for about 1,200 deaths, according to the National Hurricane Center. That does not include indirect deaths of the sort the George Washington researchers counted in Puerto Rico.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a New York Democrat, said the report shows the U.S. government failed the people of Puerto Rico.

"These numbers are only the latest to underscore that the federal response to the hurricanes was disastrously inadequate and, as a result, thousands of our fellow American citizens lost their lives," she said in a statement.

There is no national standard for how to count disaster-related deaths. While the National Hurricane Center reports only direct deaths, such as those caused by flying debris or drowning, some local governments may include indirect deaths from such things as heart attacks and house fires.

Researchers with George Washington said they counted deaths over the span of six months — a much longer period than usual — because so many people were without power during that time.

"That caused a number of issues," Goldman said, adding that people were forced to exert themselves physically or were exposed to intense heat without fans or air conditioning. "It's fairly striking that you have so many households without electricity for so long. That's unusual in the U.S. after a disaster."

Puerto Rico's government released data in June showing increases in several illnesses in 2017 that could have been linked to the storm: Cases of sepsis, a serious bloodstream infection usually caused by bacteria, rose from 708 in 2016 to 835 last year. Deaths from diabetes went from 3,151 to 3,250, and deaths from heart illnesses increased from 5,417 to 5,586.

Bethzaida Rosado said government and health care officials were not prepared for the storm, and she is still angry her 76-year-old mother died because oxygen tanks were not available on the island after the hurricane.

"Do you know what it's like to see your mother run out of oxygen?" she said. "I don't wish that on anyone."

Months ago, the Rossello administration stopped updating its official death toll at 64 and ordered the independent investigation amid suspicions the dead were substantially undercounted.

The first phase of the study cost $305,000. In the second phase, the researchers plan to focus on the causes of death.

The researchers found that the risk of death was 45 percent higher for those living in impoverished communities, and that men older than 65 saw a continuous elevated risk of death.

They also reported that physicians and others told them that Puerto Rico's government did not notify them about federal guidelines on how to document deaths related to a major disaster.

"Others expressed reluctance to relate deaths to hurricanes due to concern about the subjectivity of this determination and about liability," the report said.

For the study, the researchers reviewed mortality data, including deaths by age, sex and municipality of residence, from July 2010 to February 2018. They also took into account an 8 percent drop in Puerto Rico's population in the six months after the storm, when tens of thousands fled because of the damage.

However, they did not share details of the methodology, saying those will be released if the study is published in a scientific journal.

"We did not cherry-pick, I can promise you," Goldman said. "We used very rigorous methodology."

The study also found that government emergency plans in place when Maria hit were not designed for hurricanes greater than a Category 1. Maria was a Category 4 with 154 mph winds. Damage was estimated at more than $100 billion.

The researchers made several recommendations, including more emergency planning and government training for doctors on filling out death certificates.

They also said the public health system needs to be strengthened, though Goldman said they don't know yet whether those weaknesses contributed to storm-related deaths.

She added that she has doubts whether Puerto Rico, which is trying to restructure a portion of its more than $70 billion public debt amid a 12-year recession, can adopt any of the recommendations.

"I don't think they have the resources," she said. "That is a very critical issue."

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Using a study from a team of independent researchers, officials in Puerto Rico said they're raising the official death toll from Hurricane Maria to 2,975 from 64.

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Researchers have determined that an estimated 2,975 people died from September 2017 through the end of February 2018. The independent study, from George Washington University's (GWU) Milken School of Public Health, was commissioned by the Puerto Rican government.

Alvin Baez/Reuters, FILE

At a press conference Tuesday in San Juan, Gov. Ricardo Rossello announced he would be raising the island's official estimate to match that of the study.

Rossello called the announcement "painful" and said it's a time for Puerto Ricans to mourn and reflect.

The GWU report also showed that the risk of dying in the aftermath of Maria was 60 percent higher for those in the poorest communities and 35 percent higher for those aged 65 or older.

"There are huge inequalities in Puerto Rico that were brought up by the hurricane," said Carlos Santos-Burgoa, one of the principal investigators of the study.

The estimate of 2,975 was determined using a mathematical model based on historical patterns, with adjustments made for age and sex, researchers said. That sum is more than 4,500 percent higher than the original estimate of 64.

Gerald Herbert/AP, FILE

President Donald Trump, who visited Puerto Rico in the days following the storm, initially told a crowd of Puerto Ricans to be "very proud of all of your people" because the death toll was so low.

"If you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died ... 16 people versus in the thousands," he said. Hurricane Katrina claimed more than 1,800 lives, according to the National Hurricane Center.

On Wednesday, a day after the announcement that thousands of lives were lost to Hurricane Maria, the president remained steadfast that his administration did a "fantastic job." The storm was a "tough one," Trump said, but he blamed the level of destruction on the island's geography and faulty electrical system.

"Puerto Rico was actually more difficult because of the fact it's an island," Trump said. "With Texas, you're land-based, with Florida it was land-based ... I only hope they don't get hit again."

In a statement to ABC News, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz strongly disagreed with the president's characterization.

“President Trump continues to demonstrate his inability to understand what his job in this crisis was all about: This was never about him, this was never about politics, this was about saving lives," Cruz wrote. "His lack of sensibility is beyond offensive -- 2,975 people died because of his inability to get the job done. We will never forget!”

Dr. Lynn Goldman, dean of the Milken School of Public Health, told ABC News the death rates have still not returned to the baseline, and that the deaths for the poor and elderly did not stop after the study concluded in February.

"We thought we would capture all the deaths if we looked at the period between September 2017 and February 2018, but in reality, even in February, there was still some excess deaths among the poor and the elderly," Goldman said. "It might make sense to follow through for the next six months to see when the death rates actually return to baseline."

Hurricane Maria "caused problems for people for months -- loss of electricity, issues with getting food and water, healthcare and other things people needed," Goldman added.

The GWU report also offered a blistering criticism of Rossello and his government, saying there was "inadequate preparedness and personnel training for crisis and emergency risk communication."

These factors "decreased the perceived transparency and credibility of the Government of Puerto Rico," the report said.

Rossello said he takes responsibility for what happened as a result of the passing of the storm.

"Yes, I made mistakes," he said. "We could have done things differently."

Boston Globe via Getty Images, FILE

The governor announced the creation of a commission that will start by working off the GWU recommendations to improve public health and safety as well as the creation of a registry of people considered vulnerable to future disasters. Rossello also said the commission would update Puerto Rico's preparedness plans to endure stronger hurricanes.

A memorial at the University of Puerto Rico to commemorate the lives lost because of Maria also is planned, the governor said.

On Wednesday, Trump offered praise for the governor.

"We're still helping Puerto Rico, the governor is an excellent guy," he said. "And he is very happy with the job we've done."

Goldman said assistance provided to Puerto Rico needed to include assistance to the island's understaffed Department of Health.

The GWU team plans to conduct a second phase of the study to better understand everything that contributed to the death toll. They're looking for funding for additional phase.

Mario Tama/Getty Images, FILE

The study's findings come after nearly a year of questions, uncertainty and political sparring over the human toll of the storm.

Cruz tweeted following the release of the study: "The # of deaths 2,975 reinforces the pain inflicted on the people of PR and the violation of our human rights. THEY WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN."

She added in the subsequent tweet: "I am sure the small minded will now compare studies and concentrate on the difference in #s. Remember, no matter the # thousands died."

"We need to come to terms with the fact," Goldman told ABC News, "that these storms are getting bigger and there are more of them and we all need to be prepared for them."

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the federal government will continue to support Rossello's efforts "to ensure a full accountability and transparency of fatalities resulting from last year's hurricanes -- the American people, including those grieving the loss of a loved one, deserve no less."

"We are focused on Puerto Rico's recovery and preparedness for the current Hurricane season," Sanders said.
U.S. President Donald Trump denies that 3,000 people died in the 2017 hurricane, advancing a number of "6 to 18 deaths", and further makes the false assertion that the Democrats inflated the former number.