Trump claims Hurricane Maria death toll rose 'like magic'

As Tropical Storm Florence inundated the Carolinas on Friday, President Donald Trump circled back to his claim that the official death toll from a devastating storm a year earlier in Puerto Rico was inflated and said the number of dead seemed to rise from double digits to 3,000 "like magic."
Trump falsely accused Democrats on Thursday of inflating the Puerto Rican toll to make him "look as bad as possible."
He said just six to 18 people had been reported dead when he visited two weeks after the October 2017 storm and suggested that many had been added later "if a person died for any reason, like old age."

"This method was never done with previous hurricanes because other jurisdictions know how many people were killed. FIFTY TIMES LAST ORIGINAL NUMBER - NO WAY!" Puerto Rico Gov Ricardo Rossello told CBS New York on Thursday that the government had sought the study and "tried to make this process a completely independent process."
"President Trump was responding to the liberal media and the San Juan Mayor who sadly, have tried to exploit the devastation by pushing out a constant stream of misinformation and false accusations."
Trump maintained as recently as Tuesday that his response to the storm was an "incredible unsung success."