Dorian claim faces scrutiny
Committees investigate comment’s aftermath
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied news reports that he instructed his administration to rebuke weather forecasters for contradicting his claim that Hurricane Dorian was a threat to Alabama.
“No, I never did that. I never did that,” he said in the Oval Office. “That’s a whole hoax by the fake news media, when they talk about the hurricane and when they talk about Florida and when they talk about Alabama. That’s just fake news. … It’s a fake story.”
Two congressional committees are investigating whether top administration officials acted improperly after Trump said Sept. 1 Dorian could impact Alabama – long after the state was no longer in the potential path.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, who chairs the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, sent a letter Wednesday to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross demanding information related to the department’s involvement in the president’s claim and the steps officials took to defend him.
Johnson seeks documents, records and correspondence related to the president’s claim Sept. 1 and a statement Friday from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (which is under Commerce) defending the president.
“We are deeply disturbed by the politicization of NOAA’s weather forecast activities for the purpose of supporting incorrect statements by the President,” Johnson’s letter to Ross says. “It is essential that these forecasts remain free of political influence and suppression.”
The letter was co-signed by Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., who chairs the panel’s subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation. Tuesday, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz.,sent a similar request to Ross.
On Sept. 1, Trump tweeted out a warning that Alabama was one of four states “most likely to be hit (much) harder than anticipated” by Dorian even though forecasts showed the storm heading north along the Atlantic coast.
Twenty minutes after Trump’s tweet, the Birmingham branch of the National Weather Service tweeted to clarify that Alabama was not in the pathway of Hurricane Dorian.
“Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian,” the NWS wrote.
News reports said acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney directed Ross last week to have NOAA publicly counter the forecasters by saying Alabama was at risk to bolster the president’s claim. Ross threatened to fire officials at the National Weather Service over the issue, according to The New York Times.
Friday, NOAA issued a statement defending the president.
“Information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama,” it reads. The National Weather Service tweet “spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time.”
Former top officials with NOAA accused the agency of what they said was choosing politics over science.