HURRICANE/INTELLIGENCE/MILITARY/PUERTO RICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A military intelligence assessment warned days after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico of a ‘high’ potential for government failure on the island, new documents obtained by the House Oversight Committee reveal…The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings, is seizing on the newly obtained intelligence assessment to urge his Republican counterpart atop the committee to press the White House for documents related to the federal response in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The intelligence assessment, written five days after Maria struck Puerto Rico, was prepared for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Cummings wants to know whether Trump was aware of the assessment at the time given his public comments during that period, including his criticism of local officials who sounded the alarm about similar concerns raised in the report.”
–Jeremy Diamond and Ashley Killough, “Military assessment cited ‘high’ potential for government failure in Puerto Rico,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, September 13, 2018 7:29 pm