White House swipes at CNN over map showing Alabama as Mississippi

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham called out CNN over a graphic the network aired that appears to mislabel Alabama as Mississippi, based on a screenshot that Grisham tweeted, as President Trump faces ongoing criticism for doubling down on his claim that Hurricane Dorian originally posed a threat to Alabama.

Hi @CNN, I know you guys are busy analyzing lines on a map, but perhaps you use your time to study up on U.S. geography? pic.twitter.com/kVgifHfPK4

— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) September 5, 2019

{mosads}The image was shown in reference to a report on Dorian’s progress as it works its way up the eastern U.S. coast, showing parts of Georgia in a state of emergency. As of early Thursday afternoon, Dorian, which has again been downgraded to a Category 2 storm, was hammering the Carolinas.

CNN responded later Thursday, saying the error was corrected in seconds and it was acknowledging the mistake. 

“You all should try it sometime,” the network tweeted from its public relations account.

Thanks, Stephanie. Yes, we made a mistake (which we fixed in less than 30 seconds). And now we are admitting it. You all should try it sometime.

— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) September 5, 2019

Trump has repeatedly insisted that originally “certain models strongly suggested” Dorian would pass over Florida before hitting Alabama, though this was not the prediction offered by the National Hurricane Center. 

Trump dug in on his claim in a series of tweets Thursday, a day after he displayed a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chart in the Oval Office that appeared to be doctored with a black marker. Trump told reporters he did not know anything about the changed map. 

The National Weather Service in Birmingham tweeted Sunday, shortly after Trump first said the storm would hit Alabama, that the state will “NOT see any impacts from Dorian.”

—Updated at 1:21 p.m.