- US President Donald Trump has refused to retract his claim that Hurricane Dorian could have hit the state of Alabama, despite the National Weather Service saying the assertion was not true.
- Without citing the source for his claim, Trump tweeted Monday that: “Under certain original scenarios, it was in fact correct that Alabama could have received some ‘hurt.'”
- Trump claimed Sunday morning that Alabama could be hit by Dorian, but the National Weather Service’s office in Birmingham, Alabama denied that, tweeting: “Alabama will NOT see any impacts from Dorian.”
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US President Donald Trump has refused to back down from his claim that Hurricane Dorian could have hit Alabama, despite the National Weather Service on Sunday rejecting the president’s assertion that it possibly lay in the path of the storm.
In a tweet Monday, Trump focused his attack on ABC’s White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, who had reported on the network’s World News Tonight show that on Sunday Trump had “misstated the storm’s possible trajectory.”
Such a phony hurricane report by lightweight reporter @jonkarl of @ABCWorldNews. I suggested yesterday at FEMA that, along with Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, even Alabama could possibly come into play, which WAS true. They made a big deal about this…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 2, 2019
"I suggested yesterday at FEMA that, along with Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, even Alabama could possibly come into play, which WAS true," the president tweeted Monday.
"They made a big deal about this ....when in fact, under certain original scenarios, it was in fact correct that Alabama could have received some 'hurt.' Always good to be prepared! But the Fake News is only interested in demeaning and belittling. Didn't play my whole sentence or statement. Bad people!"
Read more: Before-and-after images show how Hurricane Dorian's storm surge put a Bahamas airport underwater
The NWS office in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday had unambiguously rejected the president's assertion that Alabama would be hit by the storm.
On Sunday morning, Trump tweeted that "In addition to Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated."
In the response, the NWS tweeted just 20 minutes later that: "Alabama will NOT see any impacts from Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east."
Veteran meteorologist James Spann also rejected the president's claim, tweeting Sunday: "Alabama will not be impacted by Dorian in any way."
The White House has not responded to a request from Business Insider on the source of the president's claim.
Despite the NWS's correction Trump continued to claim on Sunday that Alabama would be hit, once in remarks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House and later in remarks at a meeting with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In its latest update on the storm the National Hurricane Center said that Dorian is currently stationary just north of the Bahamas, but a sharp turn northward could mean that it directly hits the coast of Florida.
The states of Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina have all declared a state of emergency in response to the storm, with more than one million people being forced to evacuate from their homes.