President-elect Donald Trump said he will “probably” visit Los Angeles next week to view the aftermath of the devastating wildfires.
Trump told NBC News‘ Kristen Welker on Saturday that he plans to visit after his inauguration on Monday, saying, “I will be, probably, at the end of the week.”
“I was going to go, actually yesterday,” he added, “but I thought it would be better if I went as president. It’s a little bit more appropriate, I suspect.”
Trump’s visit would come weeks after fires initially broke out in the Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, fanned by strong Santa Ana winds. In the days that followed, blazes continued to erupt across Los Angeles County, including Altadena. While first responders have worked night and day to contain the flames, more than 12,000 homes, buildings and structures were destroyed in the fires’ paths, leaving many residents displaced. At least 25 people were also killed.
The president-elect has long been critical of California’s Democratic leadership, notably Gov. Gavin Newsom, and their handling of wildfires. Though Newsom previously invited Trump to visit the state to view the destruction last week, Trump has instead taken to his social media platform Truth Social to slam the governor and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and make baseless claims about the wildfires.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump wrote at one point, calling Newsom an insulting nickname.
Newsom told NBC News last week that “responding to Donald Trump’s insults” would take “another month.”
On Saturday, Trump also told Welker that he has not spoken to Newsom directly since the fires erupted. When asked if disaster relief for California was on his initial list of priorities once he takes office, the president-elect responded, “We’re going to, no, we’re going to [look] at it from a lot of standpoints. We’re going to be demanding that the water be released from the north into the lower parts of California.”
His comments also come after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested earlier this week that “there should probably be conditions” on additional federal aid to help L.A. deal with the fires.
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