President Donald Trump said that a map showing the projected path of Hurricane Dorian proves his claim that the storm was thought to be headed toward Alabama at one point.
The map was released by the South Florida Water Management District on Aug. 28.
It showed various projections for Dorian, including some that showed the storm affecting Alabama.
“This was the originally projected path of the Hurricane in its early stages. As you can see, almost all models predicted it to go through Florida also hitting Georgia and Alabama,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sept. 4. “I accept the Fake News apologies!”
Early maps from the National Hurricane Center also showed that forecasters originally thought Alabama would receive heavy winds and other effects from the storm, including ones from Aug. 29 and Aug. 30.
A number of media outlets have claimed that Dorian was never projected to be heading toward Alabama, including Reuters and ABC.
Trump on Monday ripped into John Karl, a reporter for ABC, for focusing on Trump’s insistence that the hurricane was slated to possibly hit Alabama at some point.
“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!” Trump wrote.
“But the Fake News is only interested in demeaning and belittling. Didn’t play my whole sentence or statement. Bad people!”
At a press briefing on Wednesday, Trump referenced a blown-up projection from the National Hurricane Center that appeared to have an extension of the projected path added by a Sharpie to show that, at one point, the path looked like it was heading straight toward Alabama.
Asked by reporters whether the chart had been drawn on by a pen, Trump said, “I don’t know.”
