President Donald Trump’s acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told staff that he was unaware that the U.S. has a hurricane season, but officials claimed he was only joking.

David Richardson , who has no previous disaster management experience, told an all-hands meeting at the nation’s main disaster response agency Monday that he had no idea that there was a hurricane season, which began June 1 and runs through November 1.

Two people who were at the meeting told The New York Times that it was not clear if Richardson was joking or serious.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson pushed back on news accounts of Richardson’s statements, calling them “mean-spirited attempts to falsely frame a joke as policy.”

“There is no uncertainty about what FEMA will be

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