Trump to California’s Governor: Get ‘Act Together’ on Fires
Days after Newsom’s inauguration, Trump said he’d ordered that the federal government send no more money to California.
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump on Sunday blasted California Governor Gavin Newsom in a series of Twitter posts for his handling of the devastating wildfires that continue to blaze across the state.
Trump said Newsom, a Democrat, has “done a terrible job of forest management.” In a second tweet, the president told Newsom California will no longer receive federal money for help, adding, “Get your act together Governor.” Federal agencies own and manage 57% of the state’s forests.
In a final post, Trump said California desperately needs water and called for opening up “the ridiculously closed water lanes coming down from the North. Don’t pour it out into the Pacific Ocean.”
Later, returning to the White House from a trip to New York, the president told reporters that Newsom “is like a child.”
Newsom responded to Trump’s tweets with his own, saying “You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation.”
“We’re successfully waging war against thousands of fires started across the state in the last few weeks due to extreme weather created by climate change while Trump is conducting a full on assault against the antidotes,” Newsom said in a emailed statement later Sunday.
The president has tweeted on the subject several times, including in August 2018 that “bad environmental laws” and water diversion were behind the state’s wildfires. At that point Jerry Brown was California’s governor.
In January, days after Newsom’s inauguration, Trump said he’d ordered that the federal government send no more money to California.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, who joined Trump during a trip to New York on Saturday that included attending a mixed martial arts fight at Madison Square Garden, has said he’ll continue to try to ensure disaster-related funding for his state.
Of about 33 million acres of forest in California, U.S. agencies including the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service own and manage 19 million acres, according to the University of California.
--With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs.
To contact the reporter on this story: Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Mark Niquette, Ros Krasny
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.