Trump lands in Los Angeles to survey damage after criticizing fire response
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President Trump landed in Los Angeles Friday afternoon to survey the devastation from the firestorms that swept through the county. It was his first presidential visit since taking office — and a potentially contested one after his repeated threats to withhold federal aid to California.
The trip to Los Angeles is part of a broader national disaster recovery tour. On Friday morning, Trump arrived in North Carolina to inspect damage after Hurricane Helene ravaged the area in October.
“It’s terrible,” Trump said of the North Carolina hurricane damage as he arrived in Asheville. “We’re going to fix it and we’re going to fix it as fast as we can ... I don’t know if it’s Biden fault. But we’re going to take over.”
Trump said he would ask Congress for more money for North Carolina reconstruction and expressed disappointment in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s handling of the disaster.
“FEMA turned out to be a disaster,” he said. “I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away... The states should fix this.”
During a briefing in North Carolina, Trump doubled down on his earlier suggestion that he would place conditions on disaster aid for California, saying that he wants voter identification requirements adopted and for the state to “release the water.” The president did not outline any conditions for North Carolina to receive aid.
“If they release the water, they wouldn’t have had a problem,” Trump said of California. “If they released the water when I told them to — because I told them to do it seven years ago — if they would have done it, you wouldn’t have had the problem that you had. You ... might not have even had a fire.”
Water managers and experts have said Southern California’s cities are not currently short of water, pointing out that the region’s reservoirs are at record high levels following plentiful deliveries of supplies in 2023 and 2024.
Gov. Gavin Newsom — who greeted Trump on the tarmac Friday — has said a change in water management in Northern California would not have affected the fire response. The governor’s office said on social media that California “pumps as much water now as it could under prior Trump-era policies,” and that “there is no shortage of water in Southern California.”
Even with ample supplies in reservoirs, local water systems were pushed to their limits in places as the fires rapidly spread, driven by strong winds.
When the L.A. water system lost pressure in parts of Pacific Palisades, some fire hydrants ran dry in high-elevation areas, hindering the firefighting effort. Newsom last week ordered an investigation into the loss of water pressure to hydrants, and the lack of water available from a reservoir in Pacific Palisades that was out of commission for repairs.
Ahead of Trump’s visit to California, the White House released a list of participants, including a number of members of Congress, who would attend a fire emergency briefing in Los Angeles. Newsom was not on the list.
Newsom, who Trump refers to as “Newscum,” is a fierce critic of Trump who convened a special session ahead of Trump’s second term to “Trump-proof” California’s state laws. Still, three days after fires ravaged Los Angeles, the Democratic governor extended Trump an invitation to L.A. to survey the damage.
“In the spirit of this great country, we must not politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines,” Newsom said in a letter to Trump. “Hundreds of thousands of Americans — displaced from their homes and fearful for the future — deserve to see all of us working in their best interests to ensure a fast recovery and rebuild.”
The California firestorms in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena burned more 16,000 structures and killed at least 28 people. The estimates of costs have topped $250 billion.
Trump said, “We are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense” in Los Angeles — a remark that drew pushback from some California leaders.
U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who was one of a group of congress members who invited the president to tour Los Angeles, said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that he was glad Trump would see the fire damage.
“I think, frankly, until you see it and the scope of it, whole neighborhoods gone block after block after block, it’s hard to wrap your head around.”
Schiff also expressed hope that Trump would eschew one-sided political rhetoric.
“I think, I hope, he can’t help but be moved by what he’s seen,” Schiff said. “And I would hope also that we can get away from this kind of partisan talk of conditioning aid to California. We’ve never done that when it comes to our fellow citizens who are hurting.”
Although California is a largely Democratic state, Schiff said, the people affected by the fires are Democrats and Republicans.
“It really doesn’t matter how they vote,” Schiff said. “It shouldn’t matter how they vote. And this is a great opportunity to come together in the wake of this tragedy and show that we can work together, even while we may fight over other issues.”
But politics and the 2024 election appeared to be on Trump’s mind as he toured North Carolina. At a disaster briefing, he speculated on the role hurricane damage in the battleground state played in his reelection.
“One of the reasons we won so convincingly was our promise to get North Carolina fixed up,” he said.
President Trump has issued a directive calling for ‘putting people over fish’ in California water policy. State officials say it could prove harmful for water supplies and fish.
Trump comes to Los Angeles — a county where 65% of residents voted for his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris — after repeatedly criticizing officials’ response to the fires.
In an interview with Fox News Wednesday night, Trump threatened to tie federal aid for wildfire recovery to whether California accepts changes in water policy. “I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down,” he said.
Earlier this week, Trump said, “We are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense.”
“They’re raging through the houses and communities even affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country, some of whom are sitting here right now,” he added. “They don’t have a home any longer. That’s interesting.”
Some California Republicans who narrowly won U.S. House seats last year have criticized the politicization of disaster relief.
“Providing relief in the aftermath of a natural disaster isn’t a red or blue issue — it’s a life-or-death issue,” Republican Rep. Young Kim, who represents a fire-prone area of Orange County, said on X.
California’s Department of Water Resources set its initial water allocation for the State Water Project at 5% — a level that could change in the coming months depending on the weather.
Rep. Judy Chu, who represents Pasadena and is one of several California members of Congress who will attend a Friday fire recovery briefing with Trump, said in a statement she was grateful to the president for coming to Los Angeles to witness the destruction. But she suggested he should visit not just the affluent coastal Pacific Palisades area, but the historic Black communities of Pasadena and Altadena in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
“I will continue pushing him to make time to see our area and hear from the survivors and first responders there...” Chu said. “We should never play politics holding up or denying the relief people need to continue healing, recovering, and rebuilding from natural disasters.”
While some California Democrats adopted a conciliatory tone with Trump, the executive director of the Democratic National Committee, Sam Cornale, condemned the president for manipulating the fires for political gain.
“Donald Trump doesn’t understand what it means to lead, and he is once again playing politics in the midst of a crisis, treating families in need as a bargaining chip to force his tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy through Congress.” Cornale said in a statement. “It’s time for Trump to stop putting his billionaire donors ahead of the American people and do his job.”
In a media briefing Tuesday, Trump said his administration will “take care of Los Angeles,” and he criticized the state for what he described as a lack of water flow.
Times staff writer Hailey Branson-Potts contributed to this report.
