White House says Puerto Rico debt to be dealt with via oversight board

[October 06, 2017]    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday that Puerto Rico's debt will be dealt with under a process set up under former President Barack Obama.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday while on a trip to Puerto Rico to observe hurricane recovery efforts that the island's debt would have to be wiped out.

On Thursday, asked whether Trump planned to seek action to forgive any of Puerto Rico's debt, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters: "There's a process for how to deal with Puerto Rico's debt. ... This was a process that was put in place and set up under Obama, and that has a board of advisers that deals with that debt, and it will go through that process as we move forward."

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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