California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized President-elect Donald Trump’s response to the California wildfires in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” taped Saturday, saying, “I don’t think misinformation and disinformation are helping us.” benefit or help any of us. “
Newsom appeared to be referring to Trump’s posts on Truth Social attacking Newsom, President Joe Biden and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass since the fires broke out on Tuesday.
In one post, the president-elect baselessly claimed that Newsom had blocked a measure that would have allowed water to flow from Northern California to Southern California.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration presented to him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and northern snowmelt, to flow daily to many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning. in a practically apocalyptic way,” Trump wrote, using an insulting nickname for Newsom.
In that post, Trump added that Newsom “wanted to protect an essentially useless fish called smelt by giving it less water (didn’t work!)” and “he is to blame for this.”
“Responding to Donald Trump’s insults, we would go another month,” Newsom told NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff. “I am very familiar with them. “Any elected official you disagree with knows them very well.”
He added that Trump was “somehow connecting the smell of the delta to this fire, which is inexcusable because it is inaccurate. Furthermore, incomprehensible to anyone who understands water policy in the state.”
In another post, Trump wrote: “NO WATER IN FIRE HYDRANTS, NO MONEY IN FEMA. THIS IS WHAT JOE BIDEN IS LEAVING ME. THANK YOU JOSEPH!” and appeared to falsely claim, as he did last year after several hurricanes, that money had been withdrawn from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
At least 16 people have died in devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
On Friday, Newsom wrote a letter to Trump inviting him to come to his state and tour the destruction.
“I invite you to come to California again, to meet with the Americans affected by these fires, see the devastation firsthand, and join me and others in thanking the heroic firefighters and first responders who are risking their lives,” the governor said. wrote.
Newsom told Soboroff on Saturday that he had not received a response to the letter.
He added that he is concerned that the president-elect could make good on his threats to withhold disaster aid from the state after he takes office.
Newsom cited Trump’s past efforts to withhold federal disaster aid to states with leaders he was feuding with.
“He has done it in Utah. He did it in Michigan, he did it in Puerto Rico. He did it in California even before I was governor, in 2018,” Newsom said.
“He’s been at this for years and years and years. It transcends states, including, by the way, Georgia, which he similarly threatened. So that’s his style. And we take it seriously to the point that in the past it took us a little longer [to get federal aid]“added the governor.
