After President-elect Donald Trump spread lies about the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires, blaming California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom for the destruction, Newsom addressed the matter on CNN, telling Anderson Cooper that Trump "wanted to politicize" the disaster even as people flee and lose their lives.
Deadly wildfires in Los Angeles County remain largely uncontained, with officials reporting at least five confirmed fatalities so far. However, on Thursday, authorities admitted, “frankly, we don’t know” the true extent of the death toll. Evacuation orders are currently affecting nearly 180,000 residents, as thousands of homes and buildings have been destroyed.
The Palisades Fire, which continues to ravage the coastal area between Malibu and Santa Monica, has become the most destructive wildfire in the history of Los Angeles County. While damage assessments are still underway, early reports indicate that the number of damaged or destroyed structures is “in the thousands,” according to the Los Angeles fire chief.
Amid all this, Trump placed the blame for the wildfires on Newsom and even suggested the Governor cares too much for the environment, writing the following in a post on Truth Social:
"Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way."
"He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid."
"I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!"
You can see his post below.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper, Newsom criticized Trump, saying the president-elect, unlike President Joe Biden, is playing politics while people suffer:
"People are literally fleeing. Kids have lost their schools. Families torn asunder. Churches burned down. This guy wanted to politicize it."
"I have a lot of thoughts and I know what I want to say [but] I won't. I stood next to the President of the United States today and I was proud to be with Joe Biden. He had the backs of everyone in this community. He didn't try to play politics. He didn't try to divide any of us."
Asked what message he'd like to share with the larger community, he said:
"We've got their backs and we're going to be back and it's going to be a long, long recovery but look, we have residents back to Paradise, California. I've seen remarkable recovery efforts, [a] remarkable sense of community, purpose, resilience, so I'm not just playing the politician role of optimism."
"I really am long-term optimistic but the devastation, to see people wailing and crying, concerned about their pet, they're family, they're just bewildered about [what's happened] and they're experiencing it again. I was not speaking in past tense; this is happening in real time and will continue."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Newsom's official press office also took Trump to task for suggesting that Newsom had not cooperated with what he claimed were his efforts "to get water to come" and attacking Newsom for "protecting a tiny little fish."
"Trump is conflating two entirely unrelated things: the conveyance of water to Southern California and supply from local storage," Newsom's press office said via its official X account, adding that "there is no such document as the water restoration declaration - this is pure fiction."
The press office further debunked Trump's lies with the following statement:
[The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power] said that because of the high water demand, pump stations at lower elevations did not have enough pressure refill tanks at higher elevations, and the ongoing fire hampered the ability of crews to access the pumps. To supplement, they used water tenders to supply water -- a common tactic in wildland firefighting."
"But broadly speaking, there is no water shortage in Southern California right now, despite Trump's claims that he would open some imaginary spigot."
The press office cited Mike McNutt of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, which serves 75,000 northwest Los Angeles County residents, who said that "water supply and water reliability" are currently "pretty solid."
Additionally, Orange County Water District Chief Hydrogeologist Roy Herndon said his agency "has enough supply to carry its 2.5 million customers through the worst of any potential droughts — multiple years in a row with minimal rainfall."
It added, citing CalMatters:
"The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California — which serves 19 million people mostly with imported water — also has an abundance, “with a record 3.8 million acre-feet of water in storage,” according to Interim General Manager Deven Upadhyay, who issued a statement last week. That’s enough water to supply 40 million people for a year."
You can see the press office's response below.
Many echoed Newsom's criticisms of the president-elect.
Newsom declared a state of emergency that was secured through approval from the Federal Emergency Management Assistant Grant and will permit "local, state, and tribal agencies responding to the fire to apply for 75 percent reimbursement of their eligible fire suppression costs."
Biden himself has been in contact with Newsom and been briefed on the disaster, noting that he has "offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire" and that his administration "will do everything it can to support the response."
Newsom thanked Biden during a press conference yesterday, noting that there was "no kissing of the feet" to get help, which would be expected under Trump, who threatened to withhold emergency funding during his first administration because Newsom's "forest management is so poor."
Keith Pedersen/Facebook