Donald Trump is denying reports he told Homeland Security it should explore bombing hurricanes to stop them reaching the US.
A report by news site Axios on Monday claimed Trump suggested "multiple times" his administration should explore using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes.
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Trump vehemently denied the report saying on Twitter it was "fake news".
"The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous," he wrote, speaking in the third person.
"I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!"
The site reported Trump posed the question during a briefing at the White House.
"I got it. I got it. Why don't we nuke them?" he is quoted as saying by a source that was in the room.
"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?"
His administration said they would "look into it" reports Axios.
A Government official defended Trump, saying people should focus on his motives rather than the content of what he says.
"His goal to keep a catastrophic hurricane from hitting the mainland is not bad," they told Axios.
"His objective is not bad. What people near the president do is they say 'I love a president who asks questions like that, who's willing to ask tough questions."
Axios reports this is the second time Trump has floated this idea the first was in 2017.
It claims a National Security Council memo documents Trump asking his senior administration whether hurricanes should be bombed to stop them hitting the coastline.
The idea has been widely condemned as very foolish. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the results would be "devastating."
"Using nuclear weapons on a hurricane might not even alter the storm and the radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the trade winds to affect land areas."
Newshub.
