 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration will send messages to more than 200 million U.S. cellphones on Wednesday testing a previously unused presidential alert system that aims to warn the public in the event of a national emergency. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst 
 
 The test message was originally scheduled for September but was pushed back to Wednesday at 2:18 p.m. EDT. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which will send the alert, said the messages would bear the headline “Presidential Alert,” and that phones will make a loud tone and have a special vibration. The message will read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. On a conference call, government officials told reporters that Trump would not personally trigger the alert — from his phone or any other device — and emphasized that no president could “wake up one morning and attempt to send a personal message.” 
 
 The test alert will be sent by a device similar to a laptop from a FEMA laboratory. This new presidential alert will be nationwide and only used for advance warning of national crises. Despite the name, "the president will not originate this alert, say, from his mobile device," the official said. The country’s wireless emergency alert system has issued over 36,000 alerts for situations such as missing children, extreme weather and natural disasters since 2012, but never a presidential directive. Cellphone users can opt out of natural disaster or missing children alerts, but not presidential alerts.
– A text message from President Trump will be sent to more than 200 million US cellphones in a test starting at 2:18pm Eastern on Wednesday—but officials stress that the president won't be texting Americans on a regular basis. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says the "Presidential Alert" message is a test of a new alert system for national emergencies, reports Reuters. "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed," the message will read, according to FEMA, which says the alert will have a loud tone and a "special vibration." A senior FEMA official said Tuesday that the message will not be coming from Trump's phone and use of the system will be restricted to events like major attacks on US cities or "some other type of public peril," CNN reports. "The president will not originate this alert, say, from his mobile device," the official said. "You would not have a situation where any sitting president would wake up one morning and attempt to send a particular message." Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson tells CBS that the system is definitely "not something that should be used for a political agenda"—especially since there is no way for Americans to opt out of receiving the alerts. The test was originally scheduled for Sept. 20, but it was postponed due to Hurricane Florence.