The chairman of the House committee that oversees Puerto Rico called on the territory’s governor to step down after the FBI arrested two of his former officials on corruption charges Wednesday.
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“We’ve crossed that crucible now,” Democratic Rep. Raul M. Grijalva of Arizona, chair of the House Natural Resource Committee, said Wednesday to The Washington Post. “The restoration of accountability is so key going forward.”
The scandal involves billions in federal aid that Congress recently approved for disaster-hit areas across the U.S., including the island of Puerto Rico.
Authorities charged a total of six people in a 32-count federal indictment — including Angela Avila-Marrero, who previously served as the executive director of the island’s Health Insurance Administration, and Julia Keleher, who previously served as the education secretary. The federal indictments accuse Avila-Marrero and Keleher of directing federal funding to contractors with political connections. However, prosecutors say Rossello himself is not involved in the investigation.
President Donald Trump has long accused Puerto Rico’s government of rampant corruption, and now officials on the island worry the indictments will give the White House more leeway to withhold funds.
“The governor of Puerto Rico and his administration have now given President Trump the ammunition he needed,” San Juan Mayor Yulin Cruz, a political opponent of Rossello and a Trump critic, said Wednesday.
The arrests renew questions over whether Puerto Rico’s government is capable of managing billions in funds recently given to them by Washington, D.C.