Los Angeles’ Democratic Mayor Karen Bass Thursday conceded her Africa trip was “absolutely” a mistake and that she was working to regain the public’s trust after facing backlash for her botched response to the raging fires in her city last month.
“Absolutely it is, and I think that I have to demonstrate that every day by showing what we’re doing, what is working, what are the challenges,” Bass told NBC Los Angeles when asked if she’s trying to “regain confidence.”
The remarks come as Los Angeles faces rainstorms this week, which could create “debris flows” in areas where the fires burned, a landslide risk for what’s left of the disaster that tore through in separate fires in the region. There have already been mudslides in some scarred areas, according to Fox Weather.
LOS ANGELES WILDFIRE CZAR’S $500K PAYCHECK FOR 90 DAYS OF WORK DRAWS SWIFT BLOWBACK, MAYOR REVERSES COURSE
LA Mayor Karen Bass, left, and LA wildfires, right (AP)
Bass was in Ghana for the swearing-in of its president when the fires began, even though there was a high fire risk known at the time. The Palisades Fire started Jan. 7 and escalated through the night, but the mayor did not get back into the city until Jan. 8, and she did not answer repeated questions from a Sky News reporter upon her arrival in the United States.
Bass’ silence went viral and led to backlash from residents and social media.
Water is dropped by helicopter on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)
Over 170,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for her to step down as mayor. The situation also resulted in public criticism of the mayor, ranging from former Democratic mayoral opponent Rick Caruso to liberal talk show host Bill Maher.
LA MAYOR KAREN BASS POSED FOR PHOTOS AT A COCKTAIL PARTY AS PALISADES FIRE EXPLODED
“LA’s mayor, Karen Bass, the Nero of American politics, was fiddling in Ghana while the city burned,” Maher said last month.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., suggested that Disney CEO Bob Iger run for mayor in 2026. When pressed on whether she took Khanna’s comments personally, Bass shrugged it off.
“I am focused on one thing and one thing only, and that is to make sure that our city is able to recover and rebuild, and that all of those individuals that lived in the Palisades can go home,” Bass told NBC Los Angeles.
Rick Caruso, a Democratic candidate for Los Angeles mayor, celebrates at his primary night gathering in Los Angeles June 7, 2022, with his family behind him. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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The nearly 24,000-acre Palisades Fire destroyed over 6,800 buildings, damaged 973 buildings and resulted in 12 deaths, according to state government data.
Political fallout from the fire continues as Steve Soboroff, who’s tasked with recovery efforts, was slated to receive a $500,000 payday for the next three months from different charities. However, he will now be doing the job without pay after the amount raised eyebrows as some Californians build back from nothing.
Cameron Arcand is a politics writer at Fox News Digital in Washington D.C. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @cameron_arcand
Josh Altman told Fox Business he predicts displaced Palisades residents will move to nearby cities, Orange County, Arizona and Las Vegas.
Celebrity real estate agent Josh Altman is seeing a huge spike in interest among displaced Pacific Palisades residents in seven specific areas following the devastating fire last month.
During an interview with FOX Business, Altman explained that he gets multiple phone calls daily from families who are looking to move to Santa Monica, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Lower Bel-Air, Newport Beach, Scottsdale and Las Vegas.
“Well, listen. It’s not what they would move to? It’s what we know they’re moving to. It’s the deals that are getting closed. The first place they’re looking is Santa Monica and Brentwood. And I’m telling you, I get requests for Santa Monica and Brentwood throughout the day, every day for the past month,” Altman said.
Josh Altman predicts what cities displaced Palisades residents will move to. (Getty Images / Getty Images)
“And the bumps in the values have been something that has been more aggressive than when we got out of COVID, when that market for, you know, real estate was amazing. The bumps have been more aggressive than when rates were at 2%. We’re talking about a whole new landscape.”
WATCH: Celebrity realtor highlights top cities Palisades residents are fleeing to after devastating LA Fires
Josh Altman told Fox Business he predicts displaced Palisade residents will move to nearby cities, Orange County, Arizona and Las Vegas.
LA REAL ESTATE AGENT REVEALS NO. 1 REASON WHY PACIFIC PALISADES RESIDENTS WON’T RETURN
“And also, by the way, comps, you can forget about comps. Comps don’t exist anymore. If it wasn’t a comp from this new year on, it’s not a comp. So that’s a new market that we’re kind of navigating through,” he continued.
A Super Scooper plane dropped water on the Palisades fire on Jan. 7. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“As far as the other places, first, Brentwood, Santa Monica, second, Beverly Hills, Lower Bel-Air, third, Newport Beach, fourth, Scottsdale, Vegas. That’s what I’m seeing a lot of.”
“As far as the other places, first, Brentwood, Santa Monica, second, Beverly Hills, Lower Bel-Air, third, Newport Beach, fourth, Scottsdale, Vegas. That’s what I’m seeing a lot of.”
– Josh Altman
Altman told FOX Business that he spoke to someone who shared that a public school in Newport Beach has received 76 new applicants from Los Angeles families, displaced by the LA Fires, in the last 10 days alone.
The realtor explained that it Is too early to know if these moves are permanent but did share that families are looking for stability for their children.
A burned down playground in Pacific Palisades. (Sunny Tsai / FOXBusiness)
“You get comfortable and you have kids. There’s you know, you don’t want to move a lot. And then it also comes down to the school situation. Where are the schools going to be now that you know that they’re moving not in the Palisades, you know, whether they’re being put in buildings locally where the kids are going to be. Look, as a parent, that’s the most important thing. It’s all about the kids,” Altman said.
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Altman told FOX Business he still believes 70% of Palisades residents will not return to the community following the fires.
Former “Million Dollar Listing” star Josh Altman told FOX Business a “whole new group” of people will move into the Palisades once rebuilding begins. (Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for FMB Development / Getty Images)
“There’s just going to be a whole new group. Because I got to tell you, and I keep saying this, it’s one of the most special places in the country. There is a totally new market, which we’re still trying to navigate through,” he said.
WATCH: Josh Altman still believes 70% of Palisades residents won’t return following the fires
Josh Altman told Fox Business that there’s going to be a “whole new group” of people that move into the Pacific Palisades.
“What is the dirt worth for the people who are not going to rebuild when they sell it? Who’s going to be the first person to take the offer when we’re allowed to close a deal? Because there’s been a moratorium out there where you can’t close as of right now. And how is that going to affect all the rest of the sales in that area? And unfortunately, I think they’re going to be a little lower than people expect,” Altman continued.
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According to Cal Fire, the Palisades Fire is 95% contained as of Feb. 5. The fire burnt down 6,831 structures and homes. It burned 23,448 acres. 12 people died during the Palisades Fire and four were injured.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has long been a leading adversary, and target, of President Donald Trump.
But the governor of the nation’s most populous state, one of the Democratic Party’s leaders in the resistance against the second Trump administration and a potential White House contender in 2028, is leaving politics aside as he feverishly works to secure more federal assistance for people and businesses devastated by last month’s deadly wildfires in metropolitan Los Angeles.
“Thank you, President Trump, for coming to our communities to see this firsthand and meeting with me today to continue our joint efforts to support people impacted,” Newsom said in a statement on Wednesday evening after his huddle with the president at the White House.
In a video posted on social medial, the governor said, “So, here at the White House. Just finished a meeting with President Trump. Had a very successful day up on Capitol Hill as well, meeting in a bipartisan manner with Republican and Democratic leaders about disaster aid and disaster recovery for people impacted by the fires in Southern California.”
FRENEMIES: NEWSOM COMES HAT IN HAND TO MEET TRUMP AT WHITE HOUSE
Newsom described his meetings with Trump and members of Congress as “the spirit of collaboration and cooperation … defined.”
The governor’s trip was his first to Washington, D.C., since Trump took over in the White House and is part of his effort to secure additional federal funding to aid in wildfire recovery from the destructive blazes that killed 29 people, destroyed over 12,000 homes and forced tens of thousands to evacuate.
TRUMP MEETS WITH CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS, FIRE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS TO SEE LA WILDFIRE DAMAGE FIRST HAND
Late last month, the governor approved $2.5 billion for fire recovery work, which he hopes will be reimbursed by the federal government.
And the state will likely need much more help from the federal government because the bill to cover rebuilding costs is expected to reach into the tens of billions of dollars.
The aftermath of a wildfire in Pacific Palisades and along Pacific Coast Highway Jan. 10, 2025, in Los Angeles.(David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)
Newsom, after his meeting with Trump and his crisscrossing of Capitol Hill, emphasized that “we continue to cut red tape to speed up recovery and cleanup efforts as well as ensure rebuilding efforts are swift. We’re working across the aisle, as we always have, to ensure survivors have the resources and support they need.”
Relations between Newsom and Trump haven’t always been so harmonious.
Their animosity dates back to before Trump was elected president the first time in 2016, when Newsom was California’s lieutenant governor.
NEWSOM CALLS TRUMP’S CLAIMS ‘PURE FICTION’ AFTER HE POINTED FINGER OVER CALIFORNIA FIRE TRAGEDY
And while they did seek common ground at times during Trump’s first term in the White House, the verbal fireworks resumed over the past two years as Newsom served as a top surrogate on the campaign trail for former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden as the Democrats’ 2024 standard-bearer last summer.
Newsom regularly criticized Trump, and the former and future president handily returned the favor, treating Newsom and heavily blue California as a political punching bag.
After Trump’s convincing election victory over Harris in November, Newsom moved to “Trump-proof” his heavily blue state.
“He is using the term ‘Trump-Proof’ as a way of stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again,’ but I just overwhelmingly won the Election,” Trump responded.
But Newsom followed through, and earlier this week, California lawmakers approved $25 million in legal funding proposed by the Democratic governor to challenge actions by the Trump administration. And the legislature also allocated another $25 million for legal groups to defend undocumented immigrants facing possible deportation by new Trump administration efforts.
President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom walk to speak to reporters after the president arrived on Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles Jan. 24, 2025.(Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
After the outbreak of the fires early last month, Trump repeatedly criticized Newsom’s handling of the crisis. He has accused the governor of mismanaging forestry and water policy and, pointing to intense backlash over a perceived lack of preparation, called on Newsom to step down.
“Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” Trump charged in a social media post Jan. 8, repeating a derogatory name he often labels the governor.
Trump also placed blame for the deadly wildfires on Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, another Democrat, and the policies approved by state lawmakers. In an executive order issued last month, he described management of the state’s land and water resources as “disastrous.”
Newsom pushed back. Disputing Trump, the governor noted that reservoirs in the southern part of California were full when the fires first sparked, and he has argued that no amount of water could tackle fires fueled by winds of up to 100 miles per hour.
Newsom also claimed Trump spread “hurricane-force winds of mis- and disinformation.”
But when Trump arrived in Los Angeles late last month to survey the first damage — just four days after his inauguration as president — the governor greeted him at the airport.
“Thank you first for being here. It means a great deal to all of us,” Newsom told Trump as he greeted the president upon his arrival in Los Angeles last month. “We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help.”
The president declared that “we’re looking to get something completed. And the way you get it completed is to work together.”
Ahead of his stop in Los Angeles, Trump had threatened to withhold wildfire aid until certain stipulations were met in California, including changes to water policy and requiring an ID to vote.
President Donald Trump talks with California Gov. Gavin Newsom after arriving on Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles Jan. 24, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
“It wasn’t discussed, and I hope we can move beyond that,” Newsom said Thursday when asked in a CNN interview about any conditions for federal aid Trump may have demanded.
“Some of the conditions that were being bandied about just seemed to be, for me, a little bit of noise, a little bit political. At the end of the day, we’re all in this together.”
Newsom has also stepped back in recent weeks in pushing back against Trump’s zingers.
Following Trump’s orders, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week opened two dams in Central California, letting roughly 2.2 billion gallons of water flow out of reservoirs.
Trump celebrated the move in posts on Truth Social Friday and Sunday, declaring, “the water is flowing in California,” and adding the water was “heading to farmers throughout the State, and to Los Angeles.”
But water experts argued that the newly released water won’t flow to Los Angeles, and it is being wasted by being released during California’s normally wet winter season.
Newsom, apparently aiming to rebuild the working relationship he had with Trump during the president’s first term in the White House, didn’t raise any objections to the water release.
“For Newsom, it’s not just the last disaster, it’s the next one. Because when you are governor of California, you know in the not too distant future there will be more wildfires, or floods or earthquakes, and he’s going to need help from the federal government,” Jack Pitney, a veteran California-based political scientist at Claremont McKenna College, emphasized.
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Pitney argued that “whatever [Newsom] thinks about Trump, he needs the president’s help.”
But looking ahead, he noted that Newsom is “termed out in two years. So, once he’s no longer governor, he can be as partisan and anti-Trump as he wants. But, for now, that has to be on hold.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom hailed President Donald Trump following a “very productive” meeting at the White House on Wednesday.
Newsom traveled to Washington to push for increased federal funding for recovery efforts after wildfires devastated tens of thousands of acres in the Los Angeles area. The governor held two meetings on Capitol Hill before traveling to the White House and petitioning Trump for “unconditional disaster aid,” his office said.
“As we approach one month since the devastating wildfires across Southern California, we continue to cut red tape to speed up recovery and clean up efforts as well as ensure rebuilding efforts are swift,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re working across the aisle, as we always have, to ensure survivors have the resources and support they need.”
“Thank you President Trump for coming to our communities to see this first hand, and meeting with me today to continue our joint efforts to support people impacted,” he added.
TRUMP MEETS WITH CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS, FIRE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS TO SEE LA WILDFIRE DAMAGE FIRST HAND
California Gov. Gavin Newsom met President Donald Trump on Wednesday.(AP/Getty Images)
“The Governor expressed his appreciation for the Trump Administration’s early collaboration and specifically thanked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for his agency’s swift action, including over 1,000 personnel on the ground focused on debris removal,” Newsom’s office added in a statement.
NEWSOM CALLS TRUMP’S CLAIMS ‘PURE FICTION’ AFTER HE POINTED FINGER OVER CALIFORNIA FIRE TRAGEDY
Trump met with Newsom as he arrived in Los Angeles late last month — just four days after his inauguration as president — to survey the fire damage. Newsom approved some $2.5 billion in recovery work, which he hopes will be reimbursed by the federal government.
A house burns as the Palisades Fire rages on at the Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 11, 2025. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton )
After the outbreak of the fires early last month, Trump repeatedly criticized Newsom’s handling of the immense crisis. He has accused the governor of mismanaging forestry and water policy and, pointing to intense backlash over a perceived lack of preparation, called on Newsom to step down.
“Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” Trump charged in a social media post on Jan. 8, as he repeated a derogatory name he often labels the governor.
Trump also placed blame for the deadly wildfires on Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, another Democrat, and the policies approved by state lawmakers in heavily blue California. In an executive order issued last month, he described management of the state’s land and water resources as “disastrous.”
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump meet residents as they tour a fire-affected area in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 24, 2025. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump had threatened to withhold wildfire aid until certain stipulations were met in California, including changes to water policy and requiring an ID to vote, but now appears willing to work with Newsom.
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The president declared that “we’re looking to get something completed. And the way you get it completed is to work together.”
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
California Democrats are attempting to make state oil and gas companies pay for damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires, claiming that fossil fuel emissions are to blame for the deadly disaster.
A new Democrat-introduced bill, the Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act, if passed, would allow for “victims of climate disasters,” such as the L.A. fires, and insurance groups to sue oil and gas companies for damages under the claim that their emissions fueled the raging fires.
Democrat state Sen. Scott Wiener, who introduced the bill this week, said that fossil fuel companies should pay for fire damage, because they are “driving the climate crisis.”
“Californians shouldn’t be the only ones to pay the costs of devastating climate disasters. From last year’s floods to the fires in LA, we know that the fossil fuel industry bears ultimate responsibility for fueling these disasters,” state Sen. Scott Wiener wrote in a post on X announcing the legislation.
TRUMP MEETS WITH CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS, FIRE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS TO SEE LA WILDFIRE DAMAGE FIRST HAND
Flames from the Palisades Fire burn a building on Sunset Boulevard amid a powerful windstorm on Jan. 8, 2025, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.(Apu Gomes)
The bill, which received the backing of several state lawmakers, comes as Democrats have attempted to blame the recent fires on climate change rather than state and city policies, which have faced heightened criticism in the weeks following the deadly blaze.
Just months before the wildfire, the city of Los Angeles slashed the fire department funding by over $17 million. The L.A. fire chief said that there are “not enough firefighters in L.A. County to address four separate fires of this magnitude.”
NEWSOM THANKS TRUMP FOR COMING TO CALIFORNIA TO TOUR FIRE DAMAGE IN TARMAC FACE-OFF
“We pay the highest taxes in California. Our fire hydrants were empty. Our vegetation was overgrown, brush not cleared. Our reservoirs were emptied by our governor because tribal leaders wanted to save fish. Our fire department budget was cut by our mayor. But thank god drug addicts are getting their drug kits,” actress Sara Foster wrote in a post on X. “@MayorOfLA @GavinNewsom RESIGN. Your far-left policies have ruined our state. And also our party.”
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tour a fire-affected area in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2025. (Mandel Ngan)
Trump used the power of his pen this week to sign an executive order to override the state’s environmental policies in order to create more water availability in the L.A. area.
In the executive order issued on Sunday, Trump called on federal agencies to override regulations potentially limiting water availability in the area, such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which seeks to minimize water infrastructure to protect certain fish species, such as the Delta smelt.
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The order comes just weeks after Trump accused Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., of caring more about protecting an endangered fish species than the state’s residents amid the wildfires.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust will hold a hearing next week addressing overregulation in California following the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, stating California’s “onerous regulatory regime” may have worsened the disaster, Fox News Digital has learned.
The “California Fires and the Consequences of Overregulation” hearing will examine the real impacts of regulatory policy on the prevention of natural disasters, particularly in the case of California’s wildfires, according to a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.
It will also address how excessive regulation on insurance and permitting serves as a roadblock to those recovering from disasters.
Cal Fire reported more than 12,000 homes, businesses and schools were lost to the fires and more than 100,000 people have had to leave their homes.
KELSEY GRAMMER SAYS CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS ‘TOOK THEIR EYE OFF THE BALL’ IN WILDFIRES CATASTROPHE
Homes in Altadena, California, lay in ruins less than two weeks after the Eaton Fire devastated the area.(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, described current disaster regulations as a “nightmare.”
“Democrat-run California’s excessive regulations make preventing and recovering from natural disasters a nightmare,” he said.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, will be looking into the handling of the California wildfires.(AP Photo/John McDonnell)
LOS ANGELES WILDFIRES: SECOND CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE AGENT CHARGED WITH PRICE GOUGING VICTIMS
Jordan added that California needs a streamlined process, as suggested by President Donald Trump, to remove regulation and ensure citizens can rebuild and prevent similar tragedies in the future.
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., said the wildfires were a preventable tragedy, and Congress must examine whether California’s “onerous regulatory regime” worsened the disaster.
Aftermath of fire in Pacific Palisades, California.(David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)
“For years, California’s liberal government has prioritized environmental activism over effective forest management and disaster mitigation. Meanwhile, the politicization of their state insurance regulator has driven insurers out of the state and forced taxpayers to foot the bill,” Fitzgerald said.
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The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust will hold a hearing to examine California overregulation after the deadly Los Angeles wildfires.(Allison Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images | AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Witnesses will include Steve Hilton, founder of Golden Together; Steven Greenhut, resident senior fellow and western region director of state affairs for the R Street Institute; and Edward Ring, director of water and energy policy for the California Policy Center, according to the statement.
The hearing is scheduled for Feb. 6 at 10 a.m.
Alexandra Koch is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Prior to joining Fox News, Alexandra covered breaking news, crime, religion, and the military in the southeast.
DORAL, Fla. — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., suggested Monday that he is open to conditioning California wildfire aid on forcing the state to embrace voter ID laws.
President Donald Trump floated the idea on Friday, the same day he visited flame-ravaged Los Angeles.
Johnson said he had not spoken with Trump personally about the issue yet but criticized the progressive stronghold’s handling of elections and other policy decisions that led to the fire.
TRUMP’S FEDERAL DEI PURGE PUTS HUNDREDS ON LEAVE, NIXES $420M IN CONTRACTS
Speaker Mike Johnson suggested he could support President Trump’s call to condition wildfire aid to California(Getty Images/Shutterstock)
“Listen, there are a lot of issues going on in California, and we have been lamenting the lack of voter security there for some time,” Johnson said.
He then referenced three seats in California that Republicans lost in close House races this past November – though there have been no reports or instances of fraud detected in any of those match-ups.
“We saw three of our seats, frankly, slip away from us in the weeks that it took to continue counting ballots in California, when seemingly every other state in the nation, in America, can get it done. It’s inexcusable,” Johnson said. “[California Gov. Gavin Newsom] provides, I think, such a lack of leadership there in so many ways, and it was highlighted by the disaster with the fires.”
Newsom and Trump face off on the tarmac in Los Angeles.(Pool)
Democrats, including Newsom, have widely panned Republican suggestions of conditioning wildfire aid to California. Several have noted in their attacks that Johnson’s home state of Louisiana has been a recipient of federal aid through multiple hurricane seasons.
But Johnson said the discussions were “a common sense notion that is supported by the vast majority of the American people who do not want to subsidize crazy California leftist policies.”
“Now, what the terms are and the details of that, we will be working it out. But entwined in all of that is the concern about election security in California. And voter ID is a matter that, again, comports with common sense, that most American people see the value in,” Johnson said.
‘NO BETTER DEALMAKER’: TRUMP REPORTEDLY CONSIDERING EXECUTIVE ORDER TO ‘SAVE’ TIKTOK
People watch the smoke and flames from the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on Jan. 7, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.(Tiffany Rose/Getty Images)
Johnson and other House GOP leaders held a press conference to kick off their annual issues conference at Trump’s golf course near Miami, Florida.
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They will be in South Florida through Wednesday discussing how to carry out Trump’s vision for an active first 100 days of his new administration.
Johnson also suggested that conditioning wildfire aid to California will be a topic of discussion when Trump meets with House Republicans during their retreat on Monday evening.
Newsom told reporters when asked about Trump’s suggestion, “I have all the confidence in the world we’ll work that out.”
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
President Donald Trump declared a national emergency after touring the devastation of the Los Angeles fires with residents who were personally impacted by the disastrous event.
Trump traveled to Southern California on Friday to survey the damage from the recent wildfires that destroyed over 10,000 structures in the Los Angeles area and tragically took the lives of nearly 30 people.
Trump took an aerial tour of the area before his landing, with images showing the once ritzy neighborhood in ashes.
The president and first lady Melania Trump then experienced the damage up close, meeting with local law enforcement and members of the community for a tour of the destroyed Pacific Palisades neighborhoods.
‘FEMA IS NOT GOOD’: TRUMP ANNOUNCES AGENCY OVERHAUL DURING VISIT TO NORTH CAROLINA
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tour a fire-damaged area in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Friday.(Mandel Ngan)
“Not even believable,” Trump told reporters on site.
Trump sat down for a roundtable with LA Mayor Karen Bass and other state officials. When the president entered the room, individuals were heard chanting “USA, USA, USA!” Bass greeted the president and said that his presence was welcomed.
“This is an honor to be with you,” during the meeting, saying that homeowners told him that they want to rebuild their homes in the area.
Trump said he would sign an executive order to open up the water valves in the area.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump meet residents as they tour a fire-affected area in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Mandel Ngan)
“I don’t think you can realize how rough, how devastating it is until you see it,” Trump said of the wildfire damage. “The federal government is standing behind you, 100%.”
Trump said that he is going to waive federal permits for rebuilding in the area. “I’m gonna be the president to help you fix it,” he said. “We’re going to waive all federal permits… Because a federal permit can take 10 years… we don’t want to take 10 days.”
LOS ANGELES AGENCY REVEALS ESTIMATED ECONOMIC IMPACT OF DEADLY WILDFIRES AS INFERNOS STILL RAGE
After the fires broke out, Trump blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic city policies for the damage, citing their forest and water management policies.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump shake hands on a tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday.(Pool)
Newsom was waiting for Trump on the tarmac when he exited Air Force One and was seen shaking hands with the president in their first face-to-face encounter since the inauguration.
“Thank you first for being here. It means a great deal to all of us,” Newsom told Trump after they met on the tarmac of LAX in Los Angeles just after 3 p.m. local time. “We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help.”
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Speaking about his meeting with Newsom, Trump said that “we had a good talk, a very positive talk.”
Trump traveled to North Carolina to tour the hurricane damage, before heading to California for his first visit to the state since becoming president.
