When several fires broke out Southern CaliforniaPresident-elect Donald Trump blamed the policies of California Governor Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden for causing the outbreak.
“He’s to blame for this,” Trump wrote of Newsom on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday. But the governor’s office called Trump’s evidence “pure fiction.”
A person uses a garden hose to save a neighboring home from catching fire during the Eaton fire on January 8, 2025 in Altadena, California.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration placed before him, which would allow millions of gallons of water, excess rain and snowmelt in the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning. In an almost apocalyptic way,” he added.
During his first term, the Trump administration signed a memorandum aimed at farmers living in the Central Valley and Southern California that diverted millions of gallons of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which Newsom quickly condemned at the time.
However, new federal and state regulations limit the amount of water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to protect endangered smelt fish, which Trump said would prevent wildfires.
In a statement Posted in X through his press office, Newsom accused Trump of failing to sign a “water restoration declaration” that would have freed up gallons of water for the state.
“There is no such document as a water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction,” the post said. “The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”
Trump and Newsom have long sparred over the issue during Trump’s first administration, and the president-elect even criticized the policy on the 2024 campaign trail.
“The water is cut off upstate, in the north, you know that, and the water is to protect a certain little fish called the smelt. They send millions and millions of gallons of water into the Pacific Ocean up north. — It never comes this far,” Trump said at his golf course in Los Angeles in September. in the press conference held on the field.
“You don’t have water here. And the reason you don’t have water, you have canals – the reason you don’t have water is because Gavin Newsom didn’t want to do it,” he added.
Throughout the day, Trump continued to criticize Newsom and Biden, pushing the baseless claims that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has no money to help Californians.
However, the Congressional funding bill to avoid a government shutdown in late December included $100 billion in disaster relief, specifically $29 billion for FEMA’s disaster relief fund, which the federal government taps into emergencies to help pay for disasters and local governments. .
President Joe Biden stands with California Governor Gavin Newsom as he visits the Santa Monica firehouse to brief Cal Fire officials on the Palisades fire in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, California on January 8, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Biden also approved a major disaster declaration for California, giving fire victims “an opportunity to immediately access funds and resources to begin recovery,” according to a White House fact sheet.
After meeting with Republican senators on Capitol Hill late Wednesday, Trump continued to blame Newsom, but said he worked well with the governor when he was in the White House and the two will have to work together to rebuild the damage.
“So what happened is a tragedy, and the governor didn’t do a good job,” Trump told reporters. “That being said, I got along with him … we worked really well together, and we were going to work together. I think we’re going to be the ones who have to rebuild.”
