‘It’s not a problem in Washington’: AOC’s ‘aunt’ says Trump not to blame for Puerto Rico aid trouble after NY rep. faults ex-POTUS

A woman claiming to be the aunt of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) has pushed back on her charge that ex-president Donald Trump is to blame for Puerto Rico’s troubles after Hurricane Maria, instead pointing to local leaders.

Reached by Daily Mail reporters in Puerto Rico on Friday, a woman who identified herself as Ocasio-Cortez’s aunt said that the island’s troubles could not be pinned on the previous administration, cutting against a recent viral Twitter post by the Democratic representative.

“In this area people need a lot of help. Many people have needed it for the past four years and haven't had anything,” she said.

It's a problem here in Puerto Rico with the administration and the distribution of help. It is not a problem with Washington. We had the assistance and it didn't get to the people.

While the aunt declined to give her name, saying she preferred not to speak about family on the record, her comment follows a June 2 tweet by Ocasio-Cortez in which she showed off photos of her grandmother’s dilapidated home in Puerto Rico, apparently damaged by the 2017 hurricane. She also accused Trump of blocking disaster relief funds for the island, suggesting he is to blame for her family’s troubles. 

“Just over a week ago, my abuela fell ill. I went to Puerto Rico to see her – my 1st time in a year+ [because] of COVID,” she wrote, referring to her grandmother. “This is her home. Hurricane Maria relief hasn’t arrived. Trump blocked relief $ for [Puerto Rico].”

The post was panned at the time, with critics accusing the lawmaker of politicizing her own grandmother’s struggles to score points against the ex-commander in chief. Ocasio-Cortez did later note that while the “Trump admin had a major role, it wasn’t just them,” also criticizing “local policies,” without elaborating.

Many of the lawmaker’s detractors also asked why she hadn’t helped her ‘abuela’, given the poor state of her home, with conservative commentator Matt Walsh even launching a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $100,000 in a matter of hours. Walsh, however, said the fundraiser was shut down over objections from AOC’s family, noting the ‘Squad’ leader refused to accept the six-figure donation.

“We probably could've raised a million dollars if they'd let the fundraiser continue, but someone, ‘someone’… in abuela's family shut down the fundraiser about 10 hours into it and said that she didn't want the money,” Walsh told Fox’s Tucker Carlson this week.

Amid backlash from her initial tweet, Ocasio-Cortez clarified that her grandmother is “doing OK” and “had a place to go to and be cared for” after Maria hit the island. However, the Daily Mail noted that, by all appearances, her relative still lives in the run-down house. When reporters visited the home and asked Ocasio-Cortez’s aunt whether they could speak with her grandmother, she confirmed that she was there, but quickly declined, saying: “She’s not talking to anybody.”

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