The White House Thursday evening released a statement purportedly written by Rear Admiral Peter Brown, saying he had briefed President Donald Trump on Hurricane Dorian and said Trump’s comments insisting the storm could hit Alabama were based on Sunday morning’s briefing, “which included the possibility of tropical storm force winds in southeastern Alabama.”
For at least four days Trump has been defending his false remarks, in which he wrongly claimed, “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!”
To defend his false claim, Trump even used a black marker to doctor an official government weather report map. The president may have broken the law by doing so.
The major problem is Trump has claimed he was receiving updates on Dorian every hour, yet his false claim that Dorian would likely hit Alabama “(much) harder than anticipated” made no sense since the computer projections had changed days earlier.
Adm. Brown became Trump’s DHS advisor in June.