/Trump cancels trip to Poland to deal with Hurricane Dorian

Trump cancels trip to Poland to deal with Hurricane Dorian

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday called off a planned trip to Poland this weekend just days before Hurricane Dorian was expected to bear down on the southeastern United States.

Trump said he would stay in Washington to oversee the storm response and Vice President Mike Pence go his place on the trip to Poland to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the country.

“It’s something very important for me to be here,” he said. “The storm looks like it could be a very big one indeed.”

The National Hurricane Center predicted Thursday that Hurricane Dorian could reach maximum winds of 130 mph — putting it at a Category 4 — within the next 72 hours. The category is the second-highest on the hurricane wind-speed scale; anything 3 or above is considered a major hurricane.

Trump has had a stormy history with hurricanes, suffering widespread criticism for his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria — that storm contributed to at least 2,600 deaths in Puerto Rico, according to government estimates.

Dorian stands to be the ninth major hurricane during his presidency, including the first Category 5 storm to hit the U.S. in more than two decades.

But White House aides had speculated the Poland trip could be canceled even before the storm came into the picture after Trump scrapped a second leg of the trip to Denmark because of a dispute with the Danish prime minister. Trump has a history of canceling international travel, having previously called off trips to London, South America and Switzerland.

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