Update: This story has been updated to include new information.
As greater Los Angeles burns, incoming President Donald Trump has unleashed a blistering volley against Gov. Gavin Newsom and threatened this fall to withhold federal aid to California, which some experts say could be enduring its most costly disaster ever.
President Joe Biden, who has just days left in his administration before Trump moves back into the White House, did not directly address Trump’s comments at a White House briefing Thursday afternoon. But he did throw down the gauntlet, announcing the federal government will cover for 180 days the entire cost of wildfire response measures necessary to protect lives, including debris removal, shelter and first responders’ salaries.
“We’re going to make sure you get every resource you need,” he said. At the end of the briefing, a reporter asked Biden whether he believed California would get the assistance it needs from the incoming administration.
“I’m not in a position to answer that question,” he said. “I pray to God they will.”
Trump could revoke the 180 days of aid and other measures, but it could be difficult. Federal agencies will be run by career deputies until the Senate approves Trump’s picks. Still, the state is in a precarious position politically with veteran directors of FEMA and other key agencies that control those resources departing in less than two weeks.
What exactly Trump will do is unclear, but his vitriolic rhetoric against Newsom and Biden has stepped up, and powerful GOP allies like the former House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from Bakersfield, Calif., are gone.
Trump demanded Newsom resign late Wednesday as the fires raged and multiplied, posting on Truth Social, “One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground. It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum [sic] should resign. This is all his fault!!!”
He also falsely accused Newsom of withholding water for Southern California to protect a tiny northern fish, and falsely claimed Biden has left FEMA with no money, posting “NO WATER IN THE FIRE HYDRANTS, NO MONEY IN FEMA. THIS IS WHAT JOE BIDEN IS LEAVING ME.” He has threatened in the past to withhold disaster relief funds from California if Newsom didn’t change certain policies.
Newsom’s director of communications Izzy Gardon fired back a defense of the governor on Thursday morning:
“The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,” she said in an email to the USA Today network.
The governor’s office did not respond to questions about how the state could be impacted if federal disaster funds are withheld, or what could happen when current FEMA and other agency leaders depart.
Trump and Newsom’s war of the words goes back to the presidential campaign.
During a Sept. 13 news conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Trump claimed that the state’s wildfires could be prevented if California changed how it manages its limited water supply.
“If he doesn’t sign those papers, we won’t give him money to put out all his fires,” Trump said, referring to Newsom authorizing water diversions to farmers. “And if we don’t give him all the money to put out the fires, he’s got problems.”
Newsom soon responded on X, formerly known as Twitter, by saying that every American voter should pay attention.
Trump “just admitted he will block emergency disaster funds to settle political vendettas,” Newsom said. “Today it’s California’s wildfires. Tomorrow it could be hurricane funding for North Carolina or flooding assistance for homeowners in Pennsylvania. Donald Trump doesn’t care about America — he only cares about himself.”
California officials were actually often able to work with Trump on disaster aid during his first term. Newsom maintained a mostly collegial relationship with Trump, and even when Trump threatened to withhold disaster aid for fires in 2019, he ultimately approved the money.
The makeup of the Golden State’s delegation at that time helped. Although Trump clashed repeatedly with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, he worked well with McCarthy of the Central Valley. As such, Republican members of the state delegation often took the lead when working with the Trump administration on disaster aid for the state.
Rep. Luz Rivas, whose northern Los Angeles district was hit by the Hurst Fire, said she’s hoping that Trump and Newsom can work together this time as well.
“These fires are not a political game and I am concerned it will turn into that,” Rivas said. “I hope it doesn’t become a Trump versus California or a Trump versus Newsom thing.”
The Hurst fire is the third-largest fire burning in the Los Angeles area, and with most national attention focused on the massive Palisades and Eaton fires, Rivas is worried about working-class and suburban communities in her area in northern Los Angeles County, including Pacoima, Newhall and San Fernando, and the Santa Clarita Valley, getting the resources they need. Federal disaster assistance usually covers the bulk of rebuilding public infrastructure including roads, sewers, schools and fire stations.
Not getting further federal aid “would be devastating. In disasters of this magnitude we rely on federal assistance and for there to be a president to stop that [aid] knowing he has the power to help would make people feel left out, even people who voted for him,” Rivas said. “I just hope that happens, that it is just continuous and that Jan. 20 doesn’t mean that anything is going to change with the recovery.”
Democratic Rep. Judy Chu, who has long represented the now-ravaged community of Altadena, also said, “I am concerned because of the president-elect’s threats, but I do hope that President-elect Trump does the right thing. After all, wildfires don’t have any political affiliation. They affect everybody, they affect people of all the political parties – some of whom did indeed vote for President Trump.”
She added, “I hope he does the right thing because this is about quality of life for Americans whose lives have been absolutely devastated by this wildfire.”
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., struck a more conciliatory note on Thursday, saying in an email that Congress could work to guarantee funds and continue to persuade Trump as well.
“I have always worked across the aisle to secure relief for Californians and other disaster-stricken communities — that will not change under a Trump administration,” he said.
For now, Biden quickly signed an emergency declaration for the Palisade, Eaton and Hurst fires, and federal and state mutual aid forces have responded swiftly to battle the blazes, and at the afternoon press conference pledged to send even more.
“We’re doing literally everything we can at a federal level,” Biden said. “We’re going to continue to expend literally every resource we can find that’s appropriate to help the governor and first-responders.”
“We are with you,” Biden said. “We’re going to help you get through this and eventually help you rebuild.”
But if Trump carries through on past threats, funds to help cities and towns and homeowners devastated by the blazes, already criticized in the past as being too slow and too little, could dwindle to a trickle or be nonexistent. The aid approved by Biden comes from the $100 billion pot of disaster funding Congress approved in December and covers the costs associated with federal firefighters and using federal air tankers to drop water and flame retardant. But that money is set to go to many places, and getting Congress to quickly approve more has proven to be a fight in the past.
As of Thursday morning, at least five people were dead, including a man found holding a hose by the side of the road and an Altadena grandmother who declined to evacuate, and more than 1,000 homes had burned, with five fires scorching about 40 square miles. Close to 200,000 people were evacuated and another half million had no power or clean drinking water. Experts say at least $10 billion in damage has occurred so far, and likely far more.
More:‘Unprecedented’ fires still torching LA area; 180,000 told to flee: Live updates
“It is plausible that the Palisades Fire in particular will become the costliest fire on record, period. Not just in California, but in general,” said Daniel Swain, a University of California Los Angeles climatologist, in a briefing Wednesday.
The current federal response at Biden’s direction has been major.
The Pentagon is rushing firefighting equipment and personnel to battle the wildfires in California, including aircraft to help suppress the blazes. The California and Nevada based National Guard are providing four Modular Airborne Firefighting System units that can convert workhorse C-130 airplanes into airtankers, Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary, told reporters, and Biden said four more would be sent, along with 800 federal firefighters.
The Navy is also deploying 10 helicopters with buckets to drop water on the fires.
“Many U.S. military installations in the area have personnel and equipment that can also be surged to fight this awful blaze,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in Germany at a meeting of allies supporting Ukraine.
On the ground, the California National Guard has activated two ground firefighting teams and four military police companies to assist local law enforcement and emergency response, Maj. Jennifer Staton, a Pentagon spokesperson, said in a statement.
The battle of words continues, meanwhile, though many evacuees online pleaded for it to stop.
