Gavin Newsom accuses Trump of taking ‘cheap political shots’ over wildfires

Gavin Newsom said responding to Donald Trump's insults would take 'another month'
Gavin Newsom said responding to Donald Trump’s insults would take ‘another month’

California governor Gavin Newsom said Donald Trump is spreading lies about the wildfires as he warned over taking “cheap political shots” as the city continued to burn.

The Democrat, seen by many as a future presidential hopeful, said Mr Trump was circulating “mis- and disinformation” by incorrectly blaming fish protection policies for water shortages, among other questionable accusations.

Speaking outside wrecked homes on Sunday, Mr Newsom said: “I don’t know what he is referring to when he talks about the Delta Smelt and reservoirs – the state reservoirs are completely full in Southern California. That mis- and disinformation, I don’t think, advantages or aids any of us.”

He added that responding to Mr Trump’s insults would take “another month”.

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However, Mr Newsom also launched an entire new website to counter what he has described as a “lot of misinformation” surrounding the state’s devastating wildfires on Sunday.

It came amid heavily publicised reports that funding for wildfire and forest resilience had been cut by more than $100 million in the preceding months – accusations that Mr Newsom has deemed “a ridiculous life”.

Writing on social media, Mr Newsom said California had not cut its firefighting budget but had nearly doubled it since 2019. The number of firefighters also had increased by almost double, he said.

Credit: YouTube / FOX 11 Los Angeles

The launch of the new website, called californiafirefacts.com, also came as Mr Trump sought to blame water-management decisions for the wildfires.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Mr Trump said Mr Newsom had “refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water” to put out the fires.

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Mr Newsom’s press office responded by saying that the “water restoration declaration” that Mr Trump had accused him of not signing did not exist.

“The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,” the statement said.

On Sunday, Mr Trump again accused California officials of incompetence over their handling of deadly wildfires.

“The fires are still raging in LA. The incompetent pols (politicians) have no idea how to put them out,” Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

“This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” he wrote.

Credit: Fox 11

Meanwhile, Mr Newsom and Los Angeles county officials hit back, saying that Mr Trump has yet to accept multiple invites to see fire-hit areas.

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Mr Newsom posted a letter on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, which he says was sent to Mr Trump on Friday, inviting him to “meet with the Americans affected by these fires” and “see the devastation first-hand”.

LA’s mayor Karen Bass – who has separately faced criticism for the spread of the fires – told reporters at a press conference that she had not yet heard from Mr Trump.

Kathryn Barger, chairman of the Los Angeles board of supervisors, also told reporters she had invited Mr Trump to visit the county to get a first-hand look at the destruction.

She said when he visited the area during his first term after another wildfire in 2018, it sped up the deployment of federal aid.

On Sunday night the Los Angeles fire chief warned that the threat of fires in LA is still “very high” with strong winds forecast and “critical fire weather conditions to continue until Wednesday”.

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The National Weather Service (NWS) said that strong Santa Ana winds, which had calmed somewhat over the weekend, could soon return, with stronger gusts of up to 70mph. These winds have been largely blamed for turning wildfires into the infernos that have wreaked destruction.

“These winds, combined with dry air and dry vegetation, will keep the fire weather threat in the area,” the NWS said.

Six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across the second-largest US city since Tuesday had killed at least 16 people as of Sunday night. At least 16 people are estimated to be missing.

Mr Newsom said he expected the death toll to rise and said the fires are likely to be the worst natural disaster in US history “in terms of just the costs associated with it”.

The fires have also seen the Duchess of Sussex’s new Netflix series, filmed mostly at a mansion in Montecito, will be postponed.

The streaming platform announced late on Sunday that Meghan’s eight-part series ‘With Love’ – which is branded as a blend of “practical how-to’s and candid conversation”- will be pushed back until March in respect for the victims.

The blazes have damaged or destroyed 12,000 structures, fire officials said.

Firefighters had slowly been making progress in their battle to contain the inferno that has burned wide areas of Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighbourhood to the ground.

Aircraft dropped water and fire retardant on steep hills to stem the eastward spread of the Palisades fire and KTLA television reported that ground crews had managed to save a number of houses, although others were lost.

“LA County had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak,” said Lindsey Horvath, Los Angeles County supervisor.

Active duty military personnel are ready to support the firefighting effort, Deanne Criswell, of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, said in a series of Sunday television interviews, adding the agency has urged residents to begin filing for disaster relief.

“We have the funding to support this response, to support this recovery,” she told ABC’s This Week programme.

The blazes have damaged or destroyed 12,000 structures, fire officials said. The flames have reduced whole neighbourhoods to smouldering ruins, leaving an apocalyptic landscape.

Evacuation orders throughout the Los Angeles area now cover 153,000 residents. Another 166,000 residents have been warned that they may have to evacuate, Robert Luna, Los Angeles County sheriff, said.