The deputy White House press secretary doubled down on President Donald Trump's misleading claims about Puerto Rico aid -- and was immediately fact-checked by MSNBC's Hallie Jackson.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley insisted the U.S. territory had received more disaster relief aid than any other state or territory -- $91 billion -- but Jackson called him out.
"That's not true," she said. "Louisiana got more after that hurricane, that's not a true fact."
Hogan doubled down, and accused Puerto Rican officials of squandering the aid that's already been delivered, and twice suggested the island was a foreign country.
"They have not come to $91 billion with all we've done in that country," Gidley said. "They have had systematic mismanagement of the goods and services we sent to them. You've seen food rotting in the ports and their governor has done a horrible job. He is trying to find someone to take the blame off of him for not having a good grid and not having a good system in that country."
Jackson stopped him right there.
"These are things that are not true," she said. "Just from a factual basis, because Hurricane Katrina, the recovery effort cost more than what is happening in Puerto Rico. Let's lay the facts out here."
Jackson then pressed the White House spokesman to say whether Trump believed Puerto Ricans were Americans, but Gidley side-stepped the question by wandering into the weeds of a farm bill tied to food stamps for the island.
"The president said Puerto Ricans are taking from the U.S.A.," Jackson said. "Puerto Rico is part of the United States, people who live in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens. You're rolling your eyes, and I don't know why you're rolling your eyes."
