What kind of bad argument is this?

[vivianunger]

My city council has been pushing through a bad plan for a heritage spot downtown. One of the first things they did was cut down a lot of trees. That upset a lot of people. This week at a council meeting, he argued that a tropical storm could have taken them down anyway. Well, it could have, but it might not have, and it probably wouldn't have taken them all down even if it took some of them down.

This is obviously a bad argument, but I'm not sure which category it falls into. It's not exactly Slippery Slope.

[seefourr]

red herring it is irrelevant information and has nothing to do with the taking down of the trees

[vivianunger]

Thanks. I guess it is a red herring, although it feels as if it also should be something else too, like pretending to have the ability to predict the future. The Crystal Ball? One might call it.