California Democrats are being denounced for calling a special legislative session to target the incoming Trump administration as the state reels from devastating wildfires.
At the direction of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), the state legislature convened on Thursday to move forward with plans to provide $25 million to the state’s Department of Justice in preparation for lawsuits against the incoming Trump administration.
The move prompted immediate backlash from California Republicans, who argued that instead of focusing on “Trump-proofing” the state, Democrats should be invested in “fire-proofing California.”
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The wildfires, which first erupted Tuesday evening and proved to be especially devastating in Los Angeles, have burned over 36,000 acres, forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes, and led to the deaths of at least 10 people.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) said Thursday that he found it “appalling” that Newsom called the special session targeting President-elect Donald Trump “while this crisis is unfolding right now.”
“It really is indicative of the misplaced priorities, and failed political leadership that has gotten us to this tragic point,” Kiley added during a News Nation interview.
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Republican state Assemblymember James Gallagher called for the special session to be shut down “immediately,” in comments to the Sacramento Bee. Other Republicans, including Will O’Neill, the Mayor of Newport Beach, and Rep. Bill Essayli (R-CA), called on Newsom to instead convene a special session to address the unmitigated wildfire disaster and accused the governor’s administration of cutting wildfire prevention funding in the state budget by “80% over the last four years.”
“I urge you to immediately issue a proclamation convening a special session of the legislator and wildfire mitigation so we can fund critical firefighting efforts and upgrade our infrastructure past policy changes to allow for needed fire mitigation such as control burns and undergrounding of power lines, and address of fire insurance crisis Californians are currently facing,” Essayli wrote in a letter to Newsom on Jan. 8.
In a series of posts to X, Essayli continued to blame the Newsom administration’s policy on brush control and removing the dead trees and vegetation that feed fires for fueling the devastation that occurred in the Golden State this week.
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When California’s Democratic Assembly leader, Robert Rivas, was pressed during a news conference Thursday on why he led the special anti-Trump session while wildfires raged, he deflected, saying lawmakers were acting with “great urgency” to address the crisis.
Still, more Republicans, including California activist Denise Aguilar, have slammed Newsom for saying “the local folks will figure that out” when he was questioned this week on why some fire hydrants didn’t have water.
“There was no water in the fire hydrants. The testing for the fire hydrants was canceled. The reservoirs were not filled. There wasn’t enough staff. There wasn’t enough first responders. And insurance companies canceled their insurance plans,” Aguilar said after blasting the governor for “asking taxpayers for $25 million to Trump-proof California” after many residents were left “with nothing.”
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Trump himself has led condemnation of Newsom and called on him to resign after the wildfires broke out earlier this week.
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“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,” the president-elect said in a post to Truth Social. “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.”
Melissa Melendez, a former Republican member of the California state senate, has similarly blasted Newsom over his handling of the crisis and called on him to resign on Wednesday.