General who oversaw Hurricane Katrina response slams Trump on Puerto Rico

The Army general credited with fixing the response to Hurricane Katrina is bashing President Trump’s response to the devastation in Puerto Rico.

“It’s kind of like Katrina: We got it. We got it. Oh, s--t, send in the cavalry,” retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore told Bloomberg of the response to Hurricane Maria. “This is a hit on White House decision making.”

Honore came to national attention 12 years ago when President George W. Bush tapped him to fix the bungled response to Katrina in New Orleans.

He said the federal government needs to send more military support to the island of nearly 3.5 million people.

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“The model you want is what was done in Florida” after Hurricane Irma in early September, Honore told Bloomberg. He pointed to the thousands of National Guard troops that were mobilized throughout the state ahead of the storm.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan would oversee the military response in Puerto Rico.

Honore, who retired in 2008, said Buchanan was the right man for the job, but thought the appointment came too late.

“His (Buchanan’s) headquarters exists 365 days a year, just for this mission,” Honore told CNN on Thursday. “It took us eight days to mobilize him to tell him to come do it.”

The Louisiana native said if given the command, he’d move 50,000 troops to Puerto Rico, where he said the devastation was worse than what New Orleans dealt with after Katrina.

“They need to scale up,” Honore said. “(In) Katrina, I had 20,000 federal troops. Not federal workers, federal troops.”

RELATED: Hurricane Maria's destruction in Puerto Rico

“I had 20 ships and over 240 helicopters,” he continued about Katrina. “And Puerto Rico is bigger than Katrina.”

He also recommended moving in a military transportation division to Puerto Rico and have the U.S. Air Force set up a temporary air strip on the island.

One thing Honore said he wouldn’t do is work with other agencies.

“I'm not your partner, FEMA,” Honore told CNN. “I’m a command that you give me a mission and say take water and fuel and save the people of Puerto Rico, that’s what we operate off, a mission.”

Buchanan also has to “figure out what damn rules he’s got to break,” Honore said.

“We never would have evacuated New Orleans if I listened to the the TSA and the pilots,” he continued, noting the agency wanted manifests and identifications.

Some 600 Federal Emergency Management Agency workers are deployed in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, both of which were hammered by the powerful hurricane. FEMA says it’s given out more than 4 million meals and 1.7 million gallons of water to residents, who have been left without power.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told the New York Times on Wednesday he’s appreciated the help Uncle Sam has provided so far.

“I am very pleased with the consideration the president has given to Puerto Rico,” he told the newspaper. “However we still need more, and the president understands that, and his team understands that.”

With News Wire Services