Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump said Sunday that he's "not sure that (he's) ever even heard of a Category 5" hurricane, despite four such storms having threatened the US since he took office.
"We don't even know what's coming at us. All we know is it's possibly the biggest. I have -- I'm not sure that I've ever even heard of a Category 5. I knew it existed. And I've seen some Category 4's -- you don't even see them that much," Trump said at a briefing with officials at FEMA's headquarters in Washington, DC.
"But a Category 5 is something that -- I don't know that I've ever even heard the term other than I know it's there. That's the ultimate, and that's what we have unfortunately," he added, in reference to Hurricane Dorian.
The comments from the President came just before Dorian, a dangerous Category 5 storm, made landfall on the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas. The storm is the most recent of four Category 5 hurricanes to hit parts of the US since Trump assumed the Oval Office.
In September 2017, nearly eight months into Trump's presidency, Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest Atlantic basin hurricane ever recorded outside the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, affected at least nine US states. That same month, Hurricane Maria devastated the US territory of Puerto Rico, leaving behind an island that is still struggling to recover.
MidnightXII on September 1st, 2019 at 20:37 UTC »
He's probably telling the truth. Due to the dementia, he probably has no recollection of the previous Category 5 storms.
smallsequoia on September 1st, 2019 at 20:32 UTC »
"SOUTH Korea? Nobody knew there was a South Korea. There's certainly a North Korea, where Kimmy lives. South, south Korea, this is a big development. Big news." - Trump, some time before next election day.
cyanocobalamin on September 1st, 2019 at 20:11 UTC »
This is particularly feeble, even for Trump. He owns coastal property that is regularly in jeopardy of such storms.