President Donald Trump floated the possibility of selling Puerto Rico in 2017, according to former acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke.
“The president’s initial ideas were more of as a businessman, you know,” Duke said according to the New York Times. “Can we outsource the electricity? Can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?”
The Times also noted that Duke said “the idea of selling Puerto Rico was never seriously considered or discussed after Mr. Trump raised it.”
Duke was in charge of the Department of Homeland security for about four months after Gen. John Kelly left the position to serve as President Trump’s chief of staff in the White House.
Trump’s fascination with America’s territories has long been a topic of interest. The president floated the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, an idea that Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called “absurd.”
Trump’s frustration with Puerto Rico has been longstanding after the island struggled to recover from Hurricane Maria, despite enormous funding and aid to the island.
“A lot of money went to Puerto Rico,” Trump recalled in May during a hurricane briefing for the upcoming 2020 hurricane season.
But in 2019, Trump touted the efforts to help Puerto Rico recover from the storm as a success.
“I think Puerto Rico was incredibly successful. Puerto Rico was actually our toughest one of all because it is an island,” Trump said in September.
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