California Gov. Gavin Newsom (Democrat) on Wednesday criticized President-elect Trump for his recent comments about the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
“People are literally running away,” Newsom told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an interview that aired on his show Wednesday. “People lost their lives. “Children lost their schools, families were completely torn apart, and churches burned down.”
“This guy wanted to politicize it,” he added, referring to Trump. “I have a lot on my mind and I know what I want to say. I won’t. I am proud to stand today next to the President of the United States, Joe Biden. “He had the support of everyone in this community and was not involved in politics.”
Biden visited Los Angeles with the California governor on Wednesday morning, where he received a briefing and pledged support for relief efforts. He also canceled a trip to Rome on Thursday as the fires raged.
On the day, Newsom was criticized by Trump for the massive wildfires currently burning across Los Angeles, and the president-elect said the California governor should have signed a declaration to provide additional water to the Golden State to avoid the situation.
“Governor Gavin Newscum has refused to sign a water restoration declaration that would have allowed millions of gallons of water from excess rain and snowmelt from the north to flow into many parts of California every day, including areas that are currently burning. In a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday morning.
The amount of water that can be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta faces limits due to federal and state regulations meant to protect the fish, called smelt. A Cal Matters report at the time said the fish were in danger.
“He wanted to protect the essentially useless fish called smelt by giving them less water (to no avail!), but Californians didn’t care,” Trump added in a Truth Social post.
“Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor ensure that beautiful, clean, fresh water flows to California! “He is responsible for this incident,” he said. “First of all, there is no water for fire hydrants or fire planes. A true disaster!”
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.
