The San Juan mayor who openly attacked President Trump following Hurricane Maria last year is now reportedly under investigation for corruption.
Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz and her administration are under FBI investigation after reports that corruption in San Juan obstructed critical supplies from reaching victims of the hurricane that struck Puerto Rico last year.
According to The Epoch Times:
According to a local news report from El Vocero de Puerto Rico, the FBI is investigating several suppliers for alleged corruption in San Juan.
It says the investigation was launched after former procurement director Yadira Molina filed a lawsuit claiming she faced punishment for reporting illegal activities to the local comptroller. The investigation has since grown to include several contractors.
“On February 21, Molina sued the city council after reporting alleged acts of corruption in the shopping division in the town hall under the administration of Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto,” the report says.
The complaint states that Molina was blocked from her right “to report wrongdoing in her capacity as a private citizen, not as a public employee.” It says she was retaliated against for reporting an allegedly rigged system and was fired for attempting to report corruption, and includes other additional claims.
Cruz repeatedly slammed Trump for his handling of the relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria which devastated Puerto Rico and left over 60 people dead. And though Trump signed a $36.5 billion aid package for the nation, much of that assistance did not get to its destination in a timely fashion, giving Cruz ammunition for her outbursts against the president, calling the failure to provide help a “genocide.”
“He says he cares and he came here and threw paper towels at us,” she told CNN, citing Trump’s visit to the city of Guaynabo in October. “And on the other hand, he doesn’t provide his administration with a clear set of goals to help Puerto Rico.”
Cruz became a favorite of liberals looking to bash the president, even wearing a “Nasty Woman” shirt in her not-so-subtle jab at Trump for his insult of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. She was even named as one of the most influential people of 2018 according to Time.
But it seems that while Cruz was busy blasting Trump on her media tour for being a hypocrite, she and her administration were the ones who needed to be called out for hurting the people of Puerto Rico.
The FBI reportedly received several complaints of alleged corruption in distributing supplies back in October 2017 and was looking into those allegations.
Relief supplies were allegedly being used as political payoffs as local officials were accused of withholding FEMA supplies, or “assigning them to their buddies first – people that have voted for them or people that contributed to their campaigns or what not,” according to an FBI agent.
Trump warned at the time that the federal government would not be able to stay in Puerto Rico indefinitely and called on local government to get its act together.
Trump slams Puerto Rico for being in terrible shape before hurricane; warns US won’t be there ‘forever’ https://t.co/pFNEMqttpa pic.twitter.com/Y7NIXUUGEF
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) October 12, 2017
“We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!” he said.
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Frieda@bizpacreview.com
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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