Gavin Newsom blasts President Trump, Speaker Johnson over stalled wildfire aid
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday criticized President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, accusing them of failing to back California’s request for federal disaster aid following the wildfires earlier this year.
The criticism shortly followed a revelation that a suspect named Jonathan Rinderkecht, 29, was arrested on charges that he started what became the Palisades Fire, which claimed 12 lives and destroyed thousands of structures in the Los Angeles area in January.
“The president of the United States and Congress has refused to provide support to those that have been victimized by this arsonist and this devastation,” Newsom said during a press conference.
“Thirty-nine billion dollars for months and months and months — and the president of the United States has said nothing. The speaker of the House has said he’s not interested in helping the American people that were devastated, lives torn asunder here in Los Angeles.”
Democrats: GOP is politicizing disaster relief
In February, Newsom asked Congress to approve $39.7 billion in additional federal aid to help Los Angeles recover from the catastrophic damage.
However, his request did not shift the stance of GOP lawmakers including Johnson and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, who maintained that the aid should come with conditions tied to how California manages wildfire prevention and recovery.
“I think it comports with common sense, and I think the American people are going to demand and deserve that bad policy choices exacerbated the scope of that disaster,” Johnson, R-Louisiana, told The Sacramento Bee in February. Had California been “careful stewards, had they managed their forests, had they managed their water, it would have been a different outcome, and I think there needs to be some accountability for that.”
Newsom and other Democratic officials repeatedly denounced and pushed back against GOP proposals, accusing the GOP of “politicizing this tragic moment” and asserting that federal disaster assistance has been allocated without partisan prerequisites historically.
Rep. Dave Min, D-Costa Mesa, condemned calls for “political conditions” in a House floor speech and introduced an amendment to block restrictions on federal disaster funds, while Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, urged Congress to approve aid “with no conditions and no strings attached.”
“I urge my Republican colleagues to think about the precedent they will be setting if they set conditions, political conditions, to this aid,” Min said. “Because the next time a disaster strikes, it could be your district.”
The White House and Johnson did not immediately respond to The Bee’s request for comment on Newsom’s Wednesday remarks.
This story was originally published October 9, 2025 at 1:51 PM.
