President Donald Trump will tour damage on Friday caused by wildfires in Los Angeles on Friday as he continues to feud with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over his handling of the disaster and federal aid.
Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday that he was going to Los Angeles after stopping in North Carolina, which was hit by Hurricane Helene in September.
“I’m stopping in North Carolina, first up, because those people were treated very badly by Democrats and I’m stopping there,” Trump told Hannity. “We’re going to get that thing straightened out because they’re still suffering from a hurricane from months ago. And then, I’m going to then — I’m going to go to California.
Trump’s White House schedule had not been announced as of Thursday night. Newsom told reporters on Thursday that he would be at the airport to welcome the president.
Trump has come down hard and joined some Republican congressional leaders to attach conditions to federal disaster funding to changes in its water policies and forest management.
“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down,” the president told Hannity.
ABC News has kicked off “SoCal Strong” (#SoCalStrong), highlighting the impacted communities and offering fundraising opportunities for victims of the fires. The coverage will continue across multiple ABC News programs and platforms.
California officials have repeatedly refuted Trump’s assertions.
Trump’s claims that measures to protect the delta smelt, an endangered fish, upstate affected L.A.’s water supply is false, according to Ashley Overhouse, a California water policy adviser for the nonprofit conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife.
Overhouse told ABC News that even the most protective regulations for delta smelt, during former President Barack Obama’s administration, accounted for only about 1.2% of additional outflow.
On Thursday, the House passed the Fix Our Forests Act, a bipartisan measure that’s intended to help prevent catastrophic wildfires and provide proper forest management as California continues.
The bill provides fire departments information about how much and when they will get reimbursed for wildfire costs, supports post-fire recovery activities, assesses and helps better predict fires in high-risk areas and states through data, expedites environmental reviews to reduce planning times and costs for critical forest management and establishes an interagency center to help state and local governments.
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