President-elect Donald Trump blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) for his mishandling of the wildfires blazing in the Los Angeles area after he did not sign a water restoration declaration that would have helped his state.
“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,” Trump said Wednesday on 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,” Trump added.
“Now the ultimate price is being paid,” he continued. “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!”
Newsom and Trump have previously sparred over the state’s water management when the former president attempted, via federal memorandum in 2020, to redirect millions of gallons of water to northern California farmers, but the governor blocked the move.
Trump’s latest criticism targets state and federal efforts to bolster water flows for “an essentially worthless fish called a smelt” in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta.
FLASHBACK: Trump stood next to Gavin Newsom and stressed the importance of proper forest management after wildfires swept through California in 2018 pic.twitter.com/tE7ds4mxij
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) January 8, 2025
In 2018, Trump also criticized California’s lackluster forest management and compared how other countries have handled the wildfire problem better.
Newsom declared a state of emergency as the fire continues to tear through Southern California, prompting evacuations. At least four wildfires have burned through the Pacific Palisades and Sylmar neighborhoods of Los Angeles, including Pasadena, which has forced at least 30,000 residents to evacuate.
Numerous reports circulated Wednesday that firefighters are running out of water from hydrants to combat the fires.
Rick Caruso, a former mayoral candidate and businessman who owns property in the wildfire region, slammed the city for mismanaging the fire.
“There’s no water in the fire hydrants,” Caruso told the local Los Angeles Fox television station. “The firefighters are there [in the neighborhood], and there’s nothing they can do — we’ve got neighborhoods burning, homes burning, and businesses burning. … It should never happen.”
A spokesman for the Department of Water and Power confirmed reports of diminished water flow from hydrants.
“This is a window into a systemic problem of the city — not only of mismanagement, but our infrastructure is old,” said Caruso.
“Why don’t you call the mayor, who is out of the country, and ask her? Get an answer from her,” Caruso criticized his former political opponent, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
He added, “This is like a third-world country.”
Bass was widely criticized for attending the inauguration of President John Dramani Mahama in Ghana while her residents fled from their homes.
The mayor was also criticized for cutting the fire department’s funding of $17.6 million just months before the fires ravaged her community.
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Biden and Newsom spoke via phone early Wednesday and, later in the afternoon, spoke together for a press conference in Santa Monica, California.
The California governor scrapped his plans to travel to Washington, D.C., to attend the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter this week.