President Trump receives briefing on Hurricane Dorian
The president receives an update on the path of the storm and response plans.
President Trump on Thursday doubled down on his claim that Hurricane Dorian’s path had threatened Alabama, despite weather officials pushing back, and accused the media of coverage meant to “demean” him.
“In the early days of the hurricane, when it was predicted that Dorian would go through Miami or West Palm Beach, even before it reached the Bahamas, certain models strongly suggested that Alabama & Georgia would be hit as it made its way through Florida & to the Gulf,” Trump tweeted Thursday morning.
“Instead it turned North and went up the coast, where it continues now. In the one model through Florida, the Great State of Alabama would have been hit or grazed. In the path it took, no,” he continued. “Read my FULL FEMA statement. What I said was accurate! All Fake News in order to demean!”
He followed up by tweeting: "Alabama was going to be hit or grazed, and then Hurricane Dorian took a different path (up along the East Coast). The Fake News knows this very well. That’s why they’re the Fake News!"
The president’s tweet follows media scrutiny over his claims, first made over the weekend. The issue popped up again Wednesday when the president held up a map in the Oval Office showing the “cone of uncertainty” over areas the storm could hit.
President Donald Trump holds a chart as he talks with reporters after receiving a briefing on Hurricane Dorian in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The map seemed to include a section of Alabama and the Florida panhandle circled with black marker.
When asked about the markings on Wednesday, Trump said Alabama was in the "original forecast."
"I know that Alabama was in the original forecast, they thought they would get it as a piece of it ... we had many lines going directly, many models, each line being a model, going directly through, and in all cases, Alabama was hit, if not likely, in some cases, pretty hard," Trump said Wednesday.
"They actually gave that a 95 percent chance probability. It turned out that's not what happened--it made a right turn up the coast," he continued. "But Alabama ... was going to be hit very hard, along with Georgia. But under the current, they won't be, but Georgia will be possibly."
Trump was then asked about the apparent marker markings, to which he replied: "I don't know."
President Donald Trump holds a chart as he talks with reporters after receiving a briefing on Hurricane Dorian in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump also tweeted a map Wednesday night saying “this was the originally projected path of the Hurricane in its early stages.”
“As you can see, almost all models predicted it go through Florida also hitting Georgia and Alabama. I accept the Fake News Apologies!” he tweeted.
This has been a subject of debate ever since the weekend, when Trump first tweeted that Dorian had the potential to cross Alabama. He also said in a briefing that "Alabama could even be in for at least some very strong winds and something more than that."
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The National Weather Service's Birmingham office said otherwise, tweeting that the state would "NOT see any impacts" from the storm.
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