Trump — who plans to travel to Southern California on Friday — said he wasn’t sure if he’d meet with Newsom.
President Donald Trump once again raised the possibility of withholding federal disaster aid for Southern California’s wildfires unless certain conditions are met.
“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down” from the northern part of the state to the south, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview Wednesday, Jan. 22.
Trump’s comments, made during his first television interview since he reclaimed the White House, reignites concerns among Democrats that the newly installed president will politicize a large-scale natural disaster in a blue state, thus breaking from the tradition where federal aid has been sent to states after a natural disaster without strings attached.
The Republican president has long sparred with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and criticized California’s policies on forest management and water supplies.
Before his reelection, Trump had suggested that if he were president again, he’d withhold federal disaster aid to California in the event of future wildfires if Newsom would not agree to divert more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to farmers in the Central Valley. Trump, in his interview with Hannity, repeated false claims that the state’s water issues are because of conservation efforts related to the Delta smelt, considered an endangered fish under the California Endangered Species Act.
On Monday, after being sworn in as the 47th president, Trump directed the secretary of commerce and the secretary of the interior to start work on routing “more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state for use by the people there who desperately need a reliable water supply.”
Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, told CalMatters that reverting to prior rules during Trump’s first term “has the potential to harm Central Valley farms and Southern California communities that depend upon water delivered from the Delta, and it will do nothing to improve current water supplies in the Los Angeles basin.”
After the wildfires broke out, Newsom invited Trump to come to California to see the devastation for himself. The governor urged Trump not to politicize the catastrophe.
During his interview with Hannity, Trump — who plans to travel to Southern California on Friday — said he wasn’t sure if he’d meet with Newsom.
“I don’t know,” Trump said. “I haven’t even thought about it.”
A spokesperson for the governor did not respond to a question about whether the two had spoken about the fires in recent days or if the state’s chief executive planned to meet with the president.
“We are glad President Trump accepted the governor’s invitation to come to Los Angeles,” said Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon.
Besides Newsom, Rep. Judy Chu, a Democrat representing residents who lost their homes in the Eaton fire, and L.A. County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger, a Republican, have sent invitations to Trump — prior to his inauguration on Monday — to come see the devastation for himself.
Members of Congress representing Southern California, Republicans and Democrats, have largely agreed that aid from the federal government should come with no strings.
“We cannot prioritize potential future political battles over supporting first responders battling those wildfires in our state,” said Rep. Young Kim, R-Anaheim Hills.
Trump’s expected visit would take place two-and-a-half weeks after massive wildfires first broke out in Los Angeles County. The fires have so far damaged or destroyed over 17,000 structures and killed at least 28 people.
Fires have continued to break out around Southern California since the first sparks on Jan. 7, including the Hughes fire in the Antelope Valley that has burned over 10,000 acres since Wednesday.
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