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Trump Defends His Hurricane Warning: Media Didn’t Give Full Statement

   DailyWire.com
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he walks from Marine One to the White House following a weekend at Camp David, on September 1, 2019 at the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC.
Tom Brenner/Getty Images

President Trump was hit with more backlash over the holiday weekend after including Alabama as a place that could be potentially impacted by Hurricane Dorian.

Over the last few days, Trump has frequently posted updates from the National Hurricane Center to help keep his 64 million followers informed about the hurricane, which reached Category 5 status on Sunday as it pummeled the Bahamas and threatened to batter the East Coast. One of his posts included Alabama as one of the states that could be impacted.

“In addition to Florida — South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!”

In a press conference Sunday, Trump likewise included Alabama as a place that could be impacted by the storm in addition to the East Coast southern states.

The storm, he said, “may get a little piece of a great place: It’s called Alabama. And Alabama could even be in for at least some very strong winds and something more than that, it could be. This just came up, unfortunately. It’s the size of — the storm that we’re talking about. So, for Alabama, just please be careful also.”

In response, the National Weather Service Birmingham issued a clarification: “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.”

Following the correction and amid criticism for the claim, including a report by ABC News’ Jon Karl, Trump slammed the “fake news media” for being more focused on “demeaning and belittling” than keeping people informed.

“Such a phony hurricane report by lightweight reporter [Jon Karl] of @ABCWorldNews,” Trump tweeted Monday. “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 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!”

Trump’s defense of his statement was met with more backlash, including at left-leaning HuffPost, which faulted him for suggesting in the press conference that the potential impact on Alabama came from recent reports, rather than the “original scenarios” he cited in his follow-up tweet.

“Trump on Sunday did not refer to ‘certain original scenarios’ but instead said after a Federal Emergency Management Agency briefing that ‘this just came up, unfortunately’ as he spoke about a supposed threat to Alabama,” HuffPost pointed out. “In reality, the projections at that point did not show any path that would bring the storm to Alabama. Dorian was instead tracking further east.”

Below is the most recent update from the National Hurricane Center posted by Trump Tuesday morning:

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