Donald Trump feared that China could aim hurricanes at the United States.
The former president was terrified that the Chinese had the technology to target the US and is said to have regularly quizzed security chiefs about it during his time in office.
Trump even asked if the hurricanes could be considered an act of war and whether America could retaliate.
Staff at the White House jokingly nicknamed the device "the hurricane gun thing".
One adviser said: "It was almost too stupid for words. I did not get the sense he was joking at all."
Trump even reportedly asked staff about "nuking" hurricanes to stop them from hitting the United States, although he later denied the claims.
An aide recalled him saying: "I got it. I got it. Why don't we nuke them?
"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?"
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