After Trump denies Puerto Rican deaths, Missouri senator urges mental health checks

A Missouri state senator said Thursday she had filed a resolution urging Congress to require mental health screenings for all presidential candidates after President Donald Trump denied nearly 3,000 Puerto Ricans died as a result of Hurricane Maria.

On Twitter, Trump flatly denied the storm that struck Puerto Rico last year killed 3,000, saying when he left the island there were between six and 18 dead. Last month, Puerto Rico’s governor raised the death toll from 64 to 2,975 following an independent study.

“This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico,” Trump said.

Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, who gained notoriety a year ago when she said she hoped Trump would be assassinated, announced her resolution in a news release. She said she lost a great uncle during the storm. If passed, the resolution would ask Congress to institute the mental health screenings she thinks presidential candidates should get.

“Mr. President — my uncle’s death is not a fiction, it is one of nearly 3,000 heartbreaking examples of a reality you refuse to acknowledge,” Chappelle-Nadal said. “That’s why, to ensure that our nation is led by people who can comprehend reality, I have filed a Senate Resolution requiring presidential candidates to undergo a mental health screening.”

She added that Americans with mental illness should have access to care.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday that Chappelle-Nadal was fined $15,000 by the Federal Election Commission for using money from a state campaign account in her unsuccessful primary challenge against U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., in 2016.