Donald Trump on Monday blasted a report that he asked if nuclear bombs can be used to stop hurricanes as ‘fake news,’ adding ‘I never said this.’
The tweet criticizing a story from Axios came while the president, participating in the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, was in a televised meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
‘The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous. I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!,’ it read.
President Trump often dictates tweets to staff to send from his account.
Donald Trump on Monday blasted a report that he asked if nuclear bombs can be used to stop hurricanes as ‘fake news,’ adding ‘I never said this.’
The president, who spent much of the G7 criticizing the press for their coverage of the gathering of world leaders, also expressed his displeasure with a report from Axios that cited sources who claimed Trump asked senior Homeland Security and national security officials if they could explore using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes from hitting the United States.
Jonathan Swan, the Axios reporter who wrote the story, responded to Trump’s denial, saying he stood by every word in his report.
‘I stand by every word in the story. He said this in at least two meetings during the first year and a bit of the presidency, and one of the conversations was memorialized,’ he wrote on Twitter.
Two major hurricanes – Maria and Harvey – hit the United States and its territories during Trump’s first year in office, causing billions of dollars worth of damage.
The president visited Puerto Rico and Texas to view the fallout.
During an unspecified hurricane briefing at the White House, Axios reported, Trump told officials: ‘I got it. I got it. Why don’t we nuke them?’
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump in Puerto Rico in October 2017 to view the damage from Hurricane Maria
President Trump and Melania Trump in route to Texas in August 2017 to be briefed on the damage from Hurricane Harvey
The report comes from unnamed sources who both heard his remarks and were briefed on a National Security Council memorandum that recorded his comments.
‘They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they’re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?’ the source told Axios, paraphrasing the president’s remarks.
But his bomb the hurricanes proposal went no where even as the president was reported to be keen on the idea of figuring out a way to stop hurricanes before they made landfall in the U.S.
Officials were said to be shocked at the bombing suggestion.
‘You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting,’ the source told Axios. ‘People were astonished. After the meeting ended, we thought, ‘What the f**k? What do we do with this?”
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration has said that nuking a hurricane is ‘not a good idea’ because it may not change the hurricane’s path and the radioactive fallout would hit American shores causing ‘devastating environmental problems’ (file images)
It’s unclear where Trump might’ve found inspiration for the desire to use bombs against hurricanes, although it is a popular enough theory that the government’s own National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration has had to create a whole FAQ about it under the ‘Tropical Cyclones Myths’ category.
As the NOAA points out, dropping a nuclear bomb on a hurricane is ‘not a good idea’ seeing as how ‘this might not even alter the storm.’
But, more importantly, the organization says that ‘the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems.’
One administration official defended the idea to Axios, saying: ‘His goal — to keep a catastrophic hurricane from hitting the mainland — is not bad. His objective is not bad.’
The president has had to deal with several hurricanes during his tenure.
Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in October 2017 and Trump is still dealing with the fallout there as officials on the island complain he has not done enough to help their recovery.
It cause $91.6 billion in damage to the Caribbean.
In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas and caused $125 billion in damage.
Harvey was the first major hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since 2005.