Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell on Friday issued an apology and deleted a tweet after she was criticized for saying she hopes the hurricane headed toward Florida this week makes a “direct hit” on President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
{mosads}“I have deleted my tweet about the hurricane & Mar a Lago and sincerely apologize to all it offended,” Campbell, who was Canada’s first female prime minister, wrote in the tweet.
“It was intended as sarcasm-not a serious wish of harm. Throwaway lines get a life of their own on Twitter. I shd know better. Mea culpa,” she continued.
Campbell prompted criticism on Twitter after tweeting earlier this week that she was “rooting” for Hurricane Dorian to make “a direct hit on Mar a Lago!”
Her remarks follow reports that Dorian is expected to make landfall as possibly as high as a Category 4 hurricane around Melbourne, Fla., which is 115 miles away from the president’s resort in Palm Beach.
Campbell, who has a history of being critical of the president, had also taken a shot at Trump over the issue of climate change earlier this week, saying on Thursday that not everyone in the hurricane’s path would be in a “fortress” like Mar-a-Lago and that Trump would “not bear the cost of his immoral abdication of the climate challenge.”
Campbell served as Canada’s prime minister for a little more than four months in 1993 after Prime Minister Brian Mulroney resigned.
Her comments come as Dorian barrels toward Florida.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Pete Gaynor told CNN on Friday that the hurricane is “going to impact the entirety of Florida, and residents need to be prepared.”
Trump has also warned Florida residents to take time to prepare as the hurricane continues to strengthen.
“Be prepared and please follow State and Federal instructions, it will be a very big Hurricane, perhaps one of the biggest!” he tweeted earlier this week.
CNN reports that the hurricane is expected to hit Florida within the next three days. By that time, Dorian could have already evolved into a Category 4 storm.