Compiled from Signal staff, news releases and news services
President Donald Trump visited Los Angeles on Friday to view fire-ravaged communities on the ground and via helicopter, and participated in a roundtable discussion with local, state and federal leaders including members of California’s congressional delegation.
Among the regional and congressional representatives who met with the president were two who represent the Santa Clarita Valley: L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Rep. George Whitesides, D-Agua Dulce.
Gov. Gavin Newsom met Trump on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport and thanked the president for coming to see the devastation firsthand. Trump greeted the governor warmly, shaking his hand, embracing him and repeatedly patting him on the arm as he promised to “take care of things.”
“We’re going to get it fixed — though we’ll get it permanently fixed so it can’t happen again,” Trump told reporters. He expressed awe at the scale of the damage, which he compared to the destruction of World War II: “It’s like you got hit by a bomb,” he told Newsom.
The governor said, in a prepared statement: “We welcome President Trump to California with an open hand. Just as President Trump supported California during the pandemic, we will work together again for firestorm survivors and communities across Los Angeles who deserve all the help they can get from federal, state and local governments.”
Before arriving in Los Angeles, Trump said on Friday that he wants Los Angeles and California to fulfill two requirements as a condition of receiving federal disaster aid.
“I want to see two things in Los Angeles. Voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state,” Trump told reporters in North Carolina, where he toured hurricane-ravaged communities before heading to California. “Those are the two things. After that, I will be the greatest president that California has ever seen.”
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to “route more water” from Northern California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the Golden State due to the wildfires in what he said was an attempt to end “radical environmentalism” that was essentially putting fish over people.
“The recent deadly and historically destructive wildfires in Southern California underscore why the state of California needs a reliable water supply and sound vegetation management practices in order to provide water desperately needed there, and why this plan must immediately be reimplemented,” the White House said.
After the roundtable, Whitesides released a prepared statement expressing hope that the meeting will result in federal aid for the disaster recovery.
“After today’s meeting, I hope that President Trump will bring much-needed aid to every Californian whose life and livelihood was forever changed by the recent wildfires. As someone who has worked on wildfire prevention for years, I can tell you that this level of devastation requires immediate and comprehensive action,” Whitesides’ statement said. “I’m hopeful that after seeing the damage firsthand, President Trump will work with Congress to approve federal aid, without conditions. In Congress, I will work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to bring relief to the people who are suffering, and pass bipartisan legislation to reduce the chance of similar disasters occurring in the future.”
Trump concluded his visit by flying over the site of the Hughes Fire in Air Force One and surveying the damage on his way to Las Vegas. The fire, which erupted on Wednesday morning, was reported as having burned a total of 10,425 acres and having reached 79% containment as of Friday evening, according to L.A. County Fire Department and Angeles National Forest officials.