Gavin Newsom has given “senile” President Donald Trump a scathing fact-check on so-called “federal permits” amid the rebuilding effort from the California wildfires.
Fourteen infernos ripped through the south of the state between January 7 and January 31 last year. Among the neighborhoods affected was the affluent Pacific Palisades on the west side of Los Angeles, where 5,942 single-family homes were destroyed, and 12 people were killed, according to ABC 7 Los Angeles.
One year on from the disaster, on Thursday evening, Trump, 79, went on one of his signature social media sprees, furiously firing rounds at the leadership of California for not having the ruined communities back on their feet yet.
“Incompetent California ‘Leaders,’ headed by Governor Gavin Newscum, and a traveling Mayor who likes Africa better than the USA (she chose to go there rather than stay home and fight the worst fire in California history!), are absolutely unable to get people permits to rebuild there homes,” Trump said. “All Federal permits have been issued and received, long ago!!! President DJT.” [sic]
Trump was likely referring to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who last year was criticized for not being anywhere near the fires as they ripped through her district.
“Obviously I hated the fact that I was out of the city when the city needed me the most,” she told KABC in February. Instead, she went on a heavily criticized trip to Africa in early January and was not around as her constituents suffered. “It was a mistake to travel, but I will tell you that we need to evaluate everything. Because, honest and truly, if I had all of the information that I needed to have, the last thing I would have done was to be out of town.”
Trump’s attack riled Newsom, 58, whose subsequent retaliation perpetuated the long-running digital tit for tat between the two men, neither of whom passes up an opportunity to dunk on the other.
The 2028 Democratic presidential frontrunner hit Trump with an immediate fact check: “There is no such thing as a ‘federal permit’ to rebuild homes,” he said. “So nothing has been ‘issued’ by the senile President.”
Jeff Lichtenstein, president of Florida-based realtors ECHO Fine Properties, told the Daily Beast, “Our real estate attorney has never heard of a ‘federal permit.’”
Last winter, Bass issued an Emergency Executive Order to expedite rebuilding in the wake of the fires, her office said in a November press statement.
“Pacific Palisades rebuilding permits are being approved nearly three times faster than typical single-family home projects before the wildfires,” her office claimed.
“What hasn’t been delivered is federal disaster relief,” Newsom continued in his clap back at Trump. “One year later, survivors are still waiting.”
In a press release shared on Tuesday, Newsom’s office said, “Many homeowners face a gap between their insurance proceeds and the cost of rebuilding. The Governor has called on President Trump to send California’s request for federal aid to Congress, which will fund federal programs that can help address this gap.”
In a statement in March, FEMA said it “and its federal partners have made more than $2 billion available to disaster survivors,” including “$101 million in FEMA housing and other needs assistance,” and “$2 billion in home and business loan offers.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and a representative for Newsom for clarification on the extent of federal disaster relief.
Despite the political bluster, less than a dozen homes have been rebuilt in Los Angeles County, according to the Associated Press.
Between the two largest blazes in the disaster, the Palisades and Eaton fires, 31 people were killed and 13,000 homes and residential properties were destroyed.
The reconstruction of around 900 homes is underway, but many affected people have had trouble with insurance and are struggling to pay the bills.
Newsom previously attacked the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown for slowing down the rebuild, saying swathes of the workforce have been affected, making reconstruction more costly.
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