President Trump repeatedly suggested to senior homeland security and national security officials that they look into using nuclear weapons to prevent hurricanes from hitting the United States, Axios reports. “I got it. I got it. Why don’t we nuke them?” the president reportedly said during a briefing on hurricanes at the White House, according to a someone who was present, Axios reports. “You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting. People were astonished,” a source who was present at the time told Axios. “After the meeting ended, we thought, ‘What the f---? What do we do with this?’’ Trump reportedly floated the idea in the first year of his presidency—before John Bolton became national security adviser—but it never made it to a formal policy process, according to sources present at meetings where Trump’s novel approach was breached. In response to questions about the the idea, a senior administration official reportedly defended the president, arguing that his heart was in the right place. “(Trump’s) goal—to keep a catastrophic hurricane from hitting the mainland—is not bad,” the official told Axios. “His objective is not bad.” The president later tweeted a denial that he had ever made the suggestion. “The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous,” he tweeted. “I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!”
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!
