Trump Could Push U.S. Government into Puerto Rico Debt Fight

After President Donald Trump said Puerto Rico’s debt will be wiped out, White House officials rushed to rule out any U.S. bailout of bondholders, who lent the commonwealth about $74 billion.

But Trump, who used bankruptcy to restructure billions owed by his former businesses, has other ways to insert the federal government into one of the most complicated insolvency cases ever filed in a U.S. court.

He could order the U.S. Justice Department to defend the 2016 federal law that Puerto Rico is trying to use to slash its debt and about $49 billion in pension obligations. Bondholder Aurelius Investments ...