Donald Trump Tells Los Angeles Officials At Wildfire Briefing “I’m Going To Give You Everything You Want” – Update
UPDATED with additional details: After some contentious moments in which he blamed state and federal officials over water and forest management as contributors to the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, President Donald Trump on Friday told a gathering of local L.A. elected officials that “I’m going to give you everything you want.”
“I’m going to give you more than any president ever would have ever given to you,” Trump said, concluding a 45-minute roundtable session that included Democrats Mayor Karen Bass, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA). It came after he toured devastated areas of the Pacific Palisades, where a 23,000-acre fire destroyed 6,800 homes and structures, killing 11.
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He arrived after meeting California Gov. Gavin Newsom at the airport (see more on that below).
At the roundtable at a Pacific Palisades fire station, Trump did not talk of placing conditions on federal aid to address the disaster, as he had suggested earlier in the day. He did warm to the idea that a special master should be appointed to supervise federal dollars, and he indicated that his aide Ric Grenell should be the point person representing him for now.
“I’m going to be back,” Trump said.
But Trump pressed Bass to speed up the process for allowing residents to return to their homes, as well as to address complaints that some were told it would take 18 months to start the process of rebuilding. Trump said that he would ensure that any federal permits were expedited.
Trump repeatedly expressed concerns that the process of clearing home sites would drag on in bureaucratic red tape.
Bass said that she had issued her own executive order to cut through red tape, and that people “will be able to go back soon,” and then start clearing their sites.
“We think within in a week,” Trump said.
“That’s a long time, a week. To be honest, everyone standing in front of their house, they want to go to work and they are not allowed to do it,” Trump said.
Bass expressed concerns about safety.
Trump responded, “They’re safe. They’re safe. You know what? They’re not safe now. They’re going to be much safer. A week is actually a long time, the way I look at it. I watched hundreds of people, standing in front of their lot, and they’re not allowed to go in. It’s all burned. It’s gone. It’s done. It’s not going to burn anymore. There’s nothing to burn. There’s almost nothing to burn. And they want to go in there.”
Trump also sparred a bit with Sherman, who defended the work of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in addressing the devastation.
Trump, who pressed local officials to speed up permitting, snapped back, “If you can put that genius of yours to work on getting a permit, you will be doing much better than some of the other things you said.”
Earlier, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump met with residents who lost their homes, as well as firefighters and other local officials, as they toured Fiske Street in the Palisades.
Trump also took an aerial tour of the devastation.
PREVIOUSLY, 3:24 p.m. PT: Donald Trump told reporters that the devastation from the Palisades fire was “really not believable,” having viewed the destruction from the air before taking a walking tour down Fiske Street.
Earlier, Trump was greeted by California Governor Gavin Newsom as he arrived this afternoon at LAX for a tour of wildfire devastation, with the two political rivals exchanging friendly greetings and vowing that they would work together.
“We’re looking to get something completed, and the way you get it completed is to work together,” the president told reporters. He said that the state would “need a lot of federal help,” and then said to Newsom, standing by his side, “unless you don’t need any.”
“We’re going to need a lot of federal help,” Newsom said.
Earlier today, Trump said that he wanted to place conditions on federal aid to California for recovery efforts. One is tied to Trump’s claim — denied by Newsom — that the governor had failed to release water flow from northern to southern California. The other is that the state adopt voter ID requirements, even though that has nothing to do with the wildfire disaster.
But Trump did not put those demands on the table in his initial encounter with Newsom, who was not on the president’s schedule of elected officials who were to participate in a briefing in Pacific Palisades this afternoon. Trump, though, signaled that he would be talking further to Newsom later.
Face-to-face on the tarmac, Trump was much different toward Newsom in person than he has been when the governor is not present, as he has referred to his political foe as “Newscum.” He also has placed blame for the fires on Newsom, who presides over the largest and consistently Democratic state. On Thursday, Newsom said that he had not been in contact with the White House about the visit, but that he would still be waiting at LAX when the president arrived.
Newsom greeted Trump with a handshake, and the president slapped him on the back.
“We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help,” Newsom said. “You were there for us during Covid. I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations that we will be able to work together to get this speedy recovery.”
Trump said, “We are going to get it done. Tremendous numbers of lives have been affected. A lot of real estate has been affected. Nobody’s ever probably seen anything like this, you could almost say since the second World War when you think of it. I mean, nothing like this has happened and we’re going to get it fixed so we’ll get it permanently fixed so that it can’t happen again. We’ll be talking a little bit later, and we’ll get it worked out.”
After the meeting, Newsom posted a thank you on X.
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