Gov. Gavin Newsom responds to Trump, House speaker’s wildfire criticism. What did he say?
Gov. Gavin Newsom rebuked Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and tech mogul Elon Musk for spreading misinformation about officials’ response to the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires and for suggesting that federal disaster relief aid should come with conditions.
“Speaker Johnson and Mr. President Elect, millions of your supporters are out here. They need your help. They need your empathy,” Newsom said in a video interview published Thursday with liberal YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen. “They need your care, whatever compassion you can express, as opposed to condemnation and divisive language that has aided and embedded nothing except mis- and disinformation that’s flamed fear and flamed a lot of anxiety for folks that are simply trying to recover.”
It is the strongest response Newsom has made so far in the week since the fires first erupted in the Los Angeles area, which have now destroyed over 12,000 structures. His office previously said Trump’s remarks about Newsom failing to provide enough water to first responders was “pure fiction,” and his personal website has a section devoted to debunking misinformation about the fires.
Trump has repeatedly blamed Newsom for the fires, with one expert saying he was treating the governor as a “punching bag,” while congessional Republicans, including Johnson, have suggested that any federal disaster relief aid should come with conditions like tying it to the federal debt ceiling. Newsom sent a letter Thursday to Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune asking Congress to provide “expedited supplemental disaster aid...without conditions or prolonged negotiation.”
Newsom told Cohen he first opted to ignore the remarks, calling them “noise.” Some of that he laid at the feet of Musk, who owns X (formerly Twitter). The South African tech titan is one of Trump’s biggest supporters and a frequent booster of conspiracy theories, Most recently, he called Newsom a “scumbag” in response to a post claiming Newsom had ordered a firefighter to return donated Starlink modems. Musk’s SpaceX company manufactures Starlink modems. Newsom refuted that claim online.
“I started realizing...I’m out in the community, people [are] reflecting stuff that made no sense. ‘Why didn’t you send us water?’ ...I said, What are you talking about?” Newsom told Cohen. “And I started to realize this misinformation is impacting people’s lives, is actually impacting their ability to trust and reason. And so we started to push back.”
It’s unclear whether congressional Republicans will succeed in attaching conditions to any federal fire aid. Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, told KCRA he didn’t think any such discussions were “helpful.” He also castigated Newsom’s interview as “incessant posturing,” and said the governor was making it “more difficult” for him to get aid to wildfire victims.
