President peddles a conspiracy theory about the death toll in Puerto Rico

After the president peddled a conspiracy theory about the death toll from Hurricane Maria, White House officials went on as though he’d said nothing at all.

President Donald Trump minimized the pain and suffering of more than 3 million American citizens in Puerto Rico in a pair of tweets Thursday morning – and White House aides acted like it wasn’t their problem.

Trump’s broadside, in which he peddled a false conspiracy theory that “Democrats” inflated the official death toll from Hurricane Maria to smear his image, was met largely with silence from his White House advisers. Most officials and Trump allies refused to comment on the record, and there was little effort to mount a major defense of the statement.

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