Newsom, Trump trades flaming barbs as wildfires ravage Los Angeles

Gov. Gavin Newsom is firing back at President-elect Donald Trump for comments he made Wednesday about the response to deadly wildfires currently ravaging Southern California.

Speaking to reporters after attending meetings Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Trump accused Newsom of not “(doing) a good job” but noted they “worked well together” and would do so again when he takes office later on the month.

“It’s very sad because I’ve been trying to get Gavin Newsom to allow water to come — you’d have tremendous water up there, they’re sending it out from the Pacific — because they’re trying to protect a little tiny fish,” Trump said. “For the sake of a scent, they have no water… It’s a mistake on the part of the governor, and you can say the administration.”

Newsom’s press office released a statement on social media after Trump’s remarks saying there was a reason not to use the pumps.

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“LADWP said due to the high water demand, pump stations at lower elevations did not have enough pressurization tanks at higher elevations, and the ongoing fire was hampering crews’ ability to access the pumps,” Newsom’s press office wrote at X.

His office added that the city used water tenders to provide water, a common tactic in wildland firefighting.

Newsom’s office also rejected claims that there is a water shortage.

“By and large, there is no water shortage in Southern California right now, despite Trump’s claims that he would turn on an imaginary spigot,” Newsom’s office said.

The office released a series of quotes from California officials saying water reliability and water supplies are stable.

One of the comments said there was enough water to supply 40 million people for a year.

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Earlier in the afternoon, Trump accused Newsom of refusing to sign a water restoration declaration and criticized him for the lack of fire containment.

“Let this serve and be emblematic of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum duo. January 20th can’t come soon enough!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Newsom’s office said there was no such thing as a water restoration statement.

They also noted that supply and transport of water are not related.

“Trump is conflating two completely unrelated things: the transportation of water to Southern California and supply from local storage,” according to the post. “And again, there is no such document as the Water Restoration Statement – it is pure fiction.”

Still, Trump wasn’t done criticizing Newsom.

In a scathing late-night post on Truth Social, Trump said the wildfires were “all his fault!!!”

Trump also called on Newsom to resign.

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“One of the best and most beautiful parts of America is burning to the ground,” Trump wrote. “It’s ashes and Gavin Newscum should resign. It’s all his fault!!!”

In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper earlier Wednesday, Newsom was asked generally about Trump blaming him for the wildfire disaster.

“You can’t even react to it. I mean… you know, people are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives. Children lost their schools. Families were completely torn apart. Churches burned down,” Newsom told Cooper. “This guy wanted to politicize it. I have a lot of thoughts and I know what I want to say — I don’t want to.”

Newsom went on to praise President Biden, saying he “didn’t play politics.”

Biden visited a fire station in Los Angeles on Wednesday with Newsom to get a briefing from authorities on the raging wildfires.

The California wildfireswhich ignited on Tuesday afternoon, has already forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes. The fires in the Los Angeles area threaten at least 28,000 buildings. At least five people were killed.

Newsom declared a state of emergency Tuesday after the Palisades fire grew to an unmanageable level.