President Donald Trump ordered White House staff to have the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contradict federal government weather forecasters at the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama.
Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney called Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross “but did not instruct him to threaten any firings or offer any punitive threats, officials said,” The Washington Post reports. “He simply told Ross that the agency needed to fix it immediately, leading to a new statement that was issued on Sept. 6.”
White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney ordered the Commerce Secretary to direct the NOAA to contradict the government’s weather forecasters so Trump could save face.
“The White House was directly involved in pressing a federal scientific agency to repudiate the weather forecasters who contradicted President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian would probably strike Alabama,” The New York Times reports.
President Trump, asked by reporters Wednesday afternoon, insisted he did not tell Mulvaney to take action.
“No, I never did that,” Trump claimed. “That’s fake news.”
Some are calling for Mulvaney to be fired or to resign.