People in the state of Hawaii Saturday morning got a "taste of the stark reality" of what the state faces with a potential nuclear strike, when every cell phone in the state got a text message warning that a ballistic missile was on its way, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said Saturday, and now that the scare is over, she's angry that it happened.
She also accused President Donald Trump of taking too long to take the threat of a nuclear North Korea seriously.
"Every single cell phone in Hawaii just got this text message saying that a ballistic missile is incoming, take shelter, this is not a drill," the Democratic lawmaker told CNN Saturday, minutes after she tweeted that the alarm was a false one and there was no missile coming.
"So you can only imagine what kicked in where people start questioning," she said. "Over 1 million people in my state of Hawaii are being faced with the reality that they've got 15 minutes to find a place to take shelter. Where do they find shelter to protect them and their families from a nuclear attack? It's crazy."
Gabbard said that the message proves that all Americans need to understand that had they gone through what her family and so many others went through in her state, they would be angry, just as she is.
"The reality is that every American needs to understand that if you had gone through what the people of Hawaii just went through, what my family and so many families in Hawaii just went through, you would be angry just like I am," said Gabbard. "I've been talking about this threat from North Korea for years.
The message and scare, she said, points to the failure of the nation's leaders to ensure Hawaii's safety.
"It points to the failure of our leaders that we are sitting here in a state where this text message is a very real thing," she said. "Today's one was a mistake, but the reality is that this threat is very real. The people of my home state live with this. They live with the reality of this message popping up on their phones. Donald Trump is taking too long. He's not taking this threat seriously."
The emergency alert came while geopolitical relations are tense over a possible nuclear threat from North Korea, and read "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
Gabbard tweeted her message out, shortly before the military also reported that the message was a false one, but it took approximately 35 minutes before the alert was reported to be a false one.
U.S. Pacific Command, and the city and county of Honolulu and also put out statements calling the warning an "error."
"We're still waiting on the details," said Gabbard, when asked how such a message could have gone out. "The officials that I've spoken to said it was an inadvertent message essentially sent out as a mistake. The reality, and we'll get to the bottom of that, but the reality and what I hope people across this country and the leaders of this country here is that this is a real threat facing Hawaii."
People in the islands got the message on their phones, said Gabbard, "and they thought, '15 minutes, we've got 15 minutes before me and my family could be dead.'"
Gabbard said that as soon as she got the message, she called Hawaiian civil defense officials to find out what was going on, confirmed that it was a mistake and started sending out her tweets and posting on social media, and making phone calls to Hawaii media to try to get the message out.
Meanwhile, there is no more time to waste when it comes to the dangers Hawaii is facing, said Gabbard.
"The people of Hawaii in this country should not have to go through something like this before leaders in this country start to take this threat seriously," said Gabbard. "Bring us peace, make a deal."
Gabbard said she has not heard any specifics that have gone on since the initial warning tweet was released, but she does think most people are relieved to hear the threat was not real.
"But again, I highlight that this could have been a real threat and we better it seriously," said Gabbard. "We have to get rid of this nuclear threat, achieve peace so this is not something that we have to live with as a new reality."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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