Trump shows apparently doctored map purporting to back his false claim Hurricane Dorian may hit Alabama

Donald Trump presented an altered National Hurricane Centre map that expanded Hurricane Dorian’s official forecast so it would include Alabama, a state he incorrectly and repeatedly said would be hit by the storm.

Speaking to media in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the president had acting department of homeland security secretary Kevin McAleenan retrieve a large map from behind him showing the hurricane’s potential path over the US after it pummelled the Bahamas throughout the week.

The map shows the correct National Hurricane Centre forecast for Hurricane Dorian, outlining portions of Florida and Georgia that may be hit by the storm, as well as a black line scribbled onto the forecast that wraps around southern Alabama and its coastline.

The outlined addition of Alabama in the president’s map does not appear on any of National Hurricane Centre forecasts reviewed by The Independent.

Asked a press conference shortly after whether he was aware the map had been altered, Mr Trump replied: “No....I just know, I know Alabama was in the original forecast. They thought they would get it as a piece of it. It was supposed to go — actually we have a better map than that which is going to be presented where we had many lines going directly, many models, each line being a model, going directly through. And in all cases Alabama was it.”

Some viewers noted the map appeared to have been doctored using a thick black marker, suggesting it was not an official forecast provided by the centre, but instead a cover-up for the president’s previous inaccuracies about Alabama being included in the hurricane’s trajectory.