The president’s denial of the death count altogether, claiming the other party inflated the figure to smear him, has elicited outrage from Democrats.
The estimate of 2,975 excess deaths from September 2017 to February 2018 was reached by George Washington University researchers in an independent study, and its findings were adopted by Puerto Rico’s governor. The president’s denials came as residents of North and South Carolina and neighboring states were bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Florence.
