- President Donald Trump visited California on Friday to discuss the Los Angeles fires.
- During a roundtable with California officials, Trump promised to help fund relief efforts.
- The meeting came after weeks of Trump threatening to withhold federal funds for recovery.
President Donald Trump traveled to California on Friday afternoon to meet with local leaders, pledging to provide federal disaster relief for people affected by the deadly wildfires ravaging the region.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom greeted Trump cordially on the runway at the Los Angeles International Airport despite tense exchanges between the pair in recent weeks. The governor and president embraced briefly before addressing reporters for short remarks.
“We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help,” Newsom said as he stood next to Trump. “You were there for us during COVID, I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations that we’ll be able to work together to get this speedy recovery.”
“We are going to get it fixed, and we’re going to get it permanently fixed,” Trump responded, “We’re looking to get something completed and the way you get it completed is to work together. They are going to need a lot of federal help.”
During a subsequent roundtable with California officials, Trump promised to help fund relief efforts but did not specify how much federal aid would be provided to the state. He also said he would issue an executive order to route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Southern California and Central Valley for “beneficial use,” echoing a statement in an earlier memo directed to the Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of the Interior.
Trump’s visit to the state came after the recently inaugurated president repeatedly criticized California’s water policies and threatened to withhold federal aid to help Los Angeles recover from the Palisades and Eaton fires, which killed 28 people. AccuWeather estimates the economic damage from the wildfires totals more than $250 billion, making it one of the costliest wildfire disasters in modern US history.
Newsom and Trump have had tense relations since the president’s first term. They clashed over California’s declaration as a “sanctuary state” for immigrants in 2017 and the state’s right to set its own vehicle emission standards. Trump canceled nearly $1 billion in federal grants for California’s high-speed rail in 2019. Newsom also characterized Trump as a threat to American democracy throughout much of last year’s presidential campaign, while Trump frequently refers to the governor as “Newscum.”
Ahead of the meeting, the Los Angeles Times reported that Newsom had been excluded from a list of participants released by the White House who would attend the briefing.
Over the past week, Trump also repeatedly accused Newsom of having water “pouring into the Pacific Ocean” and of creating “an inferno,” including during a press conference on Tuesday where he announced massive funding for an AI initiative.
“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water flow down,” Trump said in an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity on Wednesday, referring to a perceived lack of water being diverted from Northern California to the more drought-prone south.
Newsom’s spokesperson, Izzy Gardon, told Business Insider the Governor is “committed to advocating for the needs of Californians in partnership with the federal administration.”
Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Los Angeles obtains water from various sources, mostly imported from outside the county. Aside from 660,000 acre-feet of local groundwater every year, a large amount of water comes from the city’s 112-year-old aqueduct that runs from the Owens Valley east of the Sierra Nevadas. The city also imports water from the Metropolitan Water District, which relays water from the Colorado River.
“Presidents and their administrations do have the power to stop or delay disaster funds, although they rarely do,” wrote Karrigan Börk, professor at the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis, in a blog post, citing when the first Trump administration delayed $20 billion in disaster aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Börk also warned that interference from the president would fundamentally change authority over water rights from the state to the federal government, which would risk opposition from many western states, and that water flowing into the ocean is needed to keep salinity down so that water can remain fresh for human use.
It remains unclear how much federal funding California will receive for Los Angeles. Trump said at an earlier stop in North Carolina on Friday that he might issue an executive order to “fundamentally reform and overhaul FEMA” or “recommend that FEMA go away.”
