California Dems worry Trump will make fire aid political again: ’Such a wild card’

Some Democrats in California are concerned that President-elect Donald Trump will again politicize disaster aid amid the wildfires torching the Golden State.

“Even if we nominally secure some of these things, the money won’t flow until Trump is president. And he’s just such a wild card, there’s reason for worry,” California Rep. Jared Huffman told Politico.

Trump has placed the blame squarely on California Governor Gavin Newsom, claiming that the fault lies with his water policies in an area that has has received a scant half-inch of rain since July in the second-driest period in 150 years.

The fires have destroyed large areas of Los Angeles County, and Trump has previously issued threats to withhold disaster relief funds from blue states, including California.

Congress passed disaster relief during the government funding battle last month, but some members believe they will have to do so again when the next funding deadline comes up in March.

The Democrats are yet to make any bold proclamations that Trump and Republicans will block disaster aid. Some California members told Politico that they hope the Republicans will be willing to help them out.

Republican California Reps. Young Kim and Doug LaMalfa have stated that the issue should stay bipartisan.

California Democrat Jimmy Panetta told the outlet: “If you kind of look at the last four years, though, under the previous Trump administration, you saw Gov. Newsom know how to handle President Trump. In the sense that, fight him where they need to fight him, but also work with them when we need things out of them.”

Trump has claimed that Newsom is responsible for the meager water supply in Los Angeles, claiming in a social media post on Wednesday that Newsom "refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water" to be used to put out the fires.

“There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction,” the office of the governor said in a statement in response.

California Institute for Water Resources climate scientist Daniel Swain told the BBC that “California is not experiencing water supply shortages at the moment, not in southern California or elsewhere. There is plenty of water in the reservoirs for firefighting or whatever you want to do with it,” he added.

Trump has also claimed that there was no water for fire hydrants amid reports that some fire hydrants have run out of water. But local officials say this is due to a heavy pressure on the system.

Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said the area saw low pressure on a small amount of hydrants for a limited period of time, but he said all problems had been resolved.

“There are very localized incidents of this unfolding where the fire hydrants have had insufficient water pressure for firefighters to use them, but that’s not because LA is running out of water,” Swain told the BBC.