President-elect Donald Trump has not responded to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s invitation to tour California’s fire damage, Newsom said Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Newsom sent a letter on Friday inviting the incoming president to California to meet with fire victims, survey the devastation in Los Angeles County, and join him in thanking first responders. The invitation, which the governor’s office said was emailed to Trump’s team, marked a slight change in tone in the political battle between Newsom and Trump, with Newsom imploring Trump not to politicize the tragedy.<\/p>\n
“He’s an incoming American president,” Newsom told a reporter Saturday as he stood on a Los Angeles airport tarmac in front of a hulking CalGuard Black Hawk helicopter. “I would expect any leader of the free world, the most powerful person in the United States of America, to respect the pleas of 40 million Americans that happen to live in the state of California, hundreds of thousands of people that are still evacuated and a recovery effort that includes, right now, cadaver dogs to look for human remains, to be here for the American people at a time of emergency and a time of recovery.”<\/p>\n
Trump’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger echoed Newsom’s call with her own invitation to Trump on Saturday, imploring the incoming president to stand with county residents as they rebuild.<\/p>\n
A catastrophic cluster of fires has wrought unprecedented destruction on the greater Los Angeles area in recent days, leveling thousands of structures and killing at least 13 people. The rebuilding effort will cost billions and test relationships at all levels of government.<\/p>\n
President Biden, who has a close relationship with Newsom, has pledged that the federal government will cover 100% of disaster assistance costs to California for the next 180 days. But Biden leaves office on January 20, and the recovery effort will likely sprawl for years to come.<\/p>\n
Newsom, whose term in office ends in 2026, is widely seen as eyeing the White House. As governor, Newsom took advantage of the state’s position as the liberal antithesis to Trump to elevate his own national profile during the president-elect’s first term.<\/p>\n
The war of words between the two men on social media and in news headlines gave Newsom an opportunity to define himself as a fighter for Democratic values that he argued the Trump regime sought to erode. Newsom and California similarly gave Trump a chance to call out the follies of Democratic rule, endearing the president to his own base.<\/p>\n
Less than 36 hours after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Newsom called a special session of the Legislature to give the California Department of Justice an extra $25 million to wage legal battles against the incoming administration.<\/p>\n
Newsom has forcefully pushed back on right-wing attacks on social media in the wake of the fires and launched a website Saturday to actively debunk misinformation about the fire. The site refutes claims from Fox News that California cut its firefighting budget and shoots down allegations in social media posts about the state mismanaging forest lands.<\/p>\n
Newsom’s invitation to Trump to tour California’s fire damage and meet with victims has gone unanswered, with the governor expressing disappointment and frustration at the lack of response. The invitation marked a slight change in tone in the political battle between Newsom and Trump, with Newsom imploring Trump not to politicize the tragedy.<\/p>\n
Q: Why did Gov. Gavin Newsom invite President-elect Donald Trump to tour California’s fire damage?<\/p>\n
A: Newsom invited Trump to meet with fire victims, survey the devastation in Los Angeles County, and join him in thanking first responders.<\/p>\n
Q: Has Trump responded to Newsom’s invitation?<\/p>\n
A: No, Trump’s office has not responded to Newsom’s invitation.<\/p>\n
Q: What is the extent of the damage from the fires?<\/p>\n
A: The fires have leveled thousands of structures and killed at least 13 people, with the rebuilding effort expected to cost billions.<\/p>\n
Q: What has President Biden pledged in terms of disaster assistance to California?<\/p>\n
A: President Biden has pledged that the federal government will cover 100% of disaster assistance costs to California for the next 180 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Newsom Says Trump Hasn’t Responded to His Entreaty to See Fire Damage California Governor Invites Trump to Tour Fire Damage, Meet with Victims President-elect Donald Trump has not responded to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s invitation to tour California’s fire damage, Newsom said Saturday afternoon. A Slight Change in Tone Newsom sent a letter on Friday inviting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/51758d7\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3000x1575+0+213\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F18%2F4b%2F8ea1d11a4c7089175c58aafa297d%2F1490370-la-me-gavin-newsom-interview2686.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5048"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5050,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5048\/revisions\/5050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}