Donald Trump attacks 'politically motivated ingrates' after row with Puerto Rican mayor

'Outside of the Fake News or politically motivated ingrates, people are now starting to recognise the amazing work that has been done'

Donald Trump has attacked critics of the US government's response to Hurricane Maria (Getty Images / Joe Raedie)

Donald Trump has hit out at "politically motivated ingrates" for criticising the US government's response to the hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico last week.

The President's attack came after he accused the mayor of the Puerto Rican capital San Juan of "poor leadership" and claimed she had been told by Democrats to be "nasty" to him.

Carmen Yulin Cruz had said the Trump administration was “killing us with the inefficiency” following Hurricane Maria, which left at least 16 people on the island dead and knocked out the US territory's power supply.

In his latest tweets, Mr Trump insisted people were "now starting to recognise" that the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) response to the disaster had been "fantastic"

"We have done a great job with the almost impossible situation in Puerto Rico," he wrote. "Outside of the Fake News or politically motivated ingrates, people are now starting to recognise the amazing work that has been done by FEMA and our great Military."

He added: "All buildings now inspected for safety. Thank you to the Governor of P.R. and to all of those who are working so closely with our First Responders. Fantastic job!"

Mr Trump has said the US deployed 10,000 emergency response workers to Puerto Rico after Maria's 140mph winds and torrential rain brought the Caribbean island's fragile infrastructure to its knees.

San Juan's mayor this week issued an emotional "mayday call" as the stricken island faced continued electricity outages and shortages of food and medicine.

“I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world cannot figure out logistics for a small island,” said Ms Cruz. “We are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency. I am begging, begging anyone that can hear us, to save us from dying.”

She added: "I am asking the President of the United States to make sure somebody is in charge that is up to the task of saving lives.

“If we don’t get the food and water into peoples' hands what we are going to see is something close to a genocide.”

In response, Mr Trump said claimed the Puerto Ricans "want everything to be done for them" and suggested his political rivals had turned Ms Cruz against him.

“The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump,” he tweeted from a golf resort in New Jersey.

The President, who is set to visit the island on Tuesday, added: “Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort."

Democrat lawmakers described Mr Trump's attack as "shameful" and called on him to apologise to the mayor. On Friday they asked for an emergency oversight hearing to address the lagging response to the crisis.

Thousands of Puerto Ricans received water and rationed food this week as an aid bottleneck began to ease, while telecommunications have been restored for about 30 per cent of the island and nearly half of the supermarkets have reopened, although many for reduced hours.

But many people remain desperate for necessities, most urgently water, and almost all of the island’s 3.4 million residents - who are US citizens - are without without power, with even hospitals are relying on generators.