MSNBC co-hosts Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle clashed with Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Brock Long on Friday over the federal government’s response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
Velshi said he has been hearing from correspondents about thousands of containers of supplies being trapped at San Juan port, noting people less than 30 minutes away are paying money for ice to keep their food cold.
Long pushed back against Velshi’s characterization and said the bigger problem is “misinformation,” noting that FEMA doesn’t charge for food and commodities. This prompted Ruhle to jump in and defend the correspondents, saying she was not accusing FEMA of charging money for commodities.
“There’s a ton of misinformation,” Long said. “The other thing that we are doing, so that you can get the most accurate information, is we’re holding press conferences from the joint field office in San Juan with DoD, the governor, and FEMA. What we’re asking is, go to that press conference in the morning for where we are versus where we need to be to clear up the misinformation.”