Budget Director Mick Mulvaney on Wednesday put to bed any inference that President Donald Trump offered to wipe out Puerto Rico's debt, saying, "I wouldn't take it word for word with that."
During his visit Tuesday to the storm-ravaged island, Trump said, "They owe a lot of money to your friends on Wall Street and we're going to have to wipe that out."
Mulvaney walked that back to CNN on Wednesday, saying that the federal government will help PR rebuild from Hurricane Maria, but that when it comes to its debt, the U.S. territory is on its own.
"I wouldn't take it word for word with that. I talked to the president at some length yesterday," Mulvaney told CNN. "The primary focus of the federal effort is to make sure the island is safe and that we're rebuilding the island."
Pressed on the president's very specific comment, Mulvaney explained it away.
"I think the president knows that in order for Puerto Rico long term to fix itself, it's going to have to deal with that debt situation," Mulvaney said. "The territory was very poorly run for a very long time. … This was a very badly mismanaged island for a very long time. I don't think I'm making any news by saying that."
The comments were the "president's acknowledgment that Puerto Rico's gonna have to figure out a way to solve that debt problem in order to fix itself going forward," Mulvaney said.
"We can help it and we will help it, we will help Puerto Rico rebuild from the storm. Puerto Rico's gonna have to figure out how to fix the errors from the last generation on its own finances," Mulvaney said.
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