California Governor Gavin Newsom is slamming the “ridiculous lies” about him slashing the fire budget by $100 million months before the deadly Los Angeles fires and is continuing to drag President-elect Donald Trump for politicizing the state’s tragedy and instead inviting him to come help out displaced Americans.
As we previously shared on January 8, California Governor Gavin Newsom first clapped back at President-elect Donald Trump after being blamed for the mass devastation and fatalities in the Los Angeles County fires. On January 7, a brush fire in the Pacific Palisades began to expand rapidly, doubling in size within an hour, leading officials to issue evacuation alerts and implement a state of emergency.
Following the Palisades Fire, was the Eaton Fire near Altadena and Pasadena; the Hurst Fire near Sylmar and Santa Clarita; the Lidia Fire in Acton and around Soledad Canyon Road; the Woodley Fire near Woodley and Sepulveda Basin; the Sunset Fire near Runyon Canyon and the Hollywood Hills; and the Kenneth Fire burning in West Hills, notably threatening homes near Calabasas and Hidden Hills. Other smaller fires were then reported near Studio City and Pacoima.
On Saturday morning (January 11), California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office updated that the Palisades Fire ravaged 22,660 acres with 11% containment. The Eaton Fire ravaged 14,117 with 15% containment. The Kenneth Fire destroyed 1,052 acres with 80% containment and the Hurst Fire blazed 799 acres with 76% containment. The Sunset Fire and Lidia Fire were both 100% contained.
Before the latest update, on January 8, Donald Trump took to Truth Social and blamed California Governor Gavin Newsom for the deadly fires in Southern California’s Pacific Palisades and neighboring areas. Trump said, “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.”
He added, “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. Now the ultimate price is being paid. 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!”
In a second post attacking California Governor Gavin Newsom, Donald Trump posted “As of this moment, Gavin Newscum and his Los Angeles crew have contained exactly ZERO percent of the fire. It is burning at levels that even surpass last night. This is not Government. I can’t wait till January 20th!” Donald Trump also called out President Joe Biden, stating, “NO WATER IN THE FIRE HYDRANTS, NO MONEY IN FEMA. THIS IS WHAT JOE BIDEN IS LEAVING ME. THANKS JOE!”
He added, “The fires in Los Angeles may go down, in dollar amount, as the worst in the History of our Country. In many circles, they’re doubting whether insurance companies will even have enough money to pay for this catastrophe. Let this serve, and be emblematic, of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum Duo. January 20th cannot come fast enough!”
Gavin Newsom ended up clapping back at Trump and told CNN host Anderson Cooper asked Gavin Newsom, “I hate to even ask this question, but President-elect choose to attack you and blame you for this…”
Before Cooper could finish his sentence, Newsom fired back, “One can’t even respond to it. I mean… People are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives. Kids lost their schools. Families completely torn asunder. Churches burned down. And this guy wanted to politicize it. I have a lot of thoughts and I know what I want to say, but I won’t. I stood next to the President of the United States of America today and I was proud to be with Joe Biden, and he had the backs of every single person in this community. He didn’t play politics. He didn’t try to divide any of us.”
RELATED: California Bans Insurance Cancellation, Non-Renewals In LA Areas Affected By Fires
Days later, on Friday (January 10), California Governor Gavin Newsom continued to drag President-elect Donald Trump and posted a letter from his office addressed to Trump. In his caption, he wrote, “@realdonaldtrump, as you prepare to assume the presidency once more, I invite you to come to California. The hundreds of thousands of Americans – displaced from their homes and fearful for the future – deserve to see us all working together in their best interests, not politicizing a human tragedy and spreading disinformation from the sidelines.”
Having had enough of the viral reports about him slashing the fire budget by $100 million months before the deadly Los Angeles fires, California Governor Gavin Newsom then slammed the “ridiculous lies” and fired back with some facts. On Saturday (January 11), Newsom shared a screenshot of a Fox News article that read, “Gov. Newsom cut fire budget by $100M months before lethal California fires,” with the word “FALSE” stamped on it in red.
He captioned the Instagram Story post, “A ridiculous lie. We have doubled the size of our firefighting army, built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet, and increased the forest management ten-fold since taking office. Time to serve these folks the facts.” Which he did on a secondary post with a link to a website debunking the rumors and “false” reports. In addition to California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was also accused of majorly cutting the fire budget.
#Socialites, be sure to check out the post below, then leave us your thoughts in a comment after!
