Why Newsom invited Trump to tour LA fire zones amid fears he’ll block disaster aid

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After days of discussions with President-elect Donald Trump over California’s handling of the fires ravaging Los Angeles, Governor Gavin Newsom today invited the new Republican president to tour the state and assess the damage.

The Democratic governor signed his public opening “with respect and an open hand.” But he also offered praise for outgoing President Joe Biden and implicit criticism of Trump’s handling of the tragedy from the start – reflecting the delicate balance between cooperation and control of the narrative that Newsom is trying to maintain as he seeks help from his greatest political enemy to deal with one of the most important problems. the worst disasters in California history.

“In the spirit of this great country, we must not politicize human tragedy or spread misinformation from the sidelines,” Newsom wrote in a statement. letter also shared on social networks. “Hundreds of thousands of Americans – displaced from their homes and worried about the future – deserve to see all of us working in their best interests to ensure rapid recovery and rebuilding. »

Since Tuesday, when a series of fires sparked by high winds began breaking out in the Los Angeles area, Trump has repeatedly lambasted Newsom and other California leaders online for their behavior. poor management of state water And called on “Newscum” to resign. Frustrations that some fire hydrants have dried up as crews battled a massive fire in the Pacific Palisades — a failure that Newsom on Friday ordered the state to investigate — underpinned much of the criticism.

Hostile rhetoric has raises fears that Trump could follow through on previous threats to withhold disaster aid to California unless the state overhauls its water policy by allowing more supplies to flow south to farmers in the Central Valley and Southern California. That would make it much more expensive for the state to recover from the Los Angeles fires, which are already estimated to have caused economic losses of more than $50 billion.

Former Trump administration officials told Politico last fall that the president-elect was blatantly political with disaster financing during his first term. Trump reportedly refused to approve aid related to California’s 2018 wildfires because of the state’s Democratic leaning, until aides showed him that many residents in affected areas had voted for him.

On the election campaign last yearhe vowed that if the governor didn’t agree to spend more money on farmers, “we won’t give him money to put out all his fires.”

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to an inquiry about Newsom’s invitation to visit.

Because Biden has already issued a major disaster declaration for the Los Angeles fires, unlocking critical aid for response and recovery, Trump could attempt to punish California by reversing the order.

It would be an unprecedented move that would almost certainly be challenged in court, said Daniel Farber, a law professor at UC Berkeley.

Federal law gives sitting presidents the authority to issue a disaster declaration, but does not specify whether they can retract it, Farber said. “I don’t think Congress ever thought this would be a problem.” He noted that the purpose of the law was to distribute disaster aid “in an orderly and efficient manner” — so a president walking back a previous administration’s statement “would really weaken the entire principle “.

“I think there are no back seats,” Farber said.

But Trump could still slow down how the Federal Emergency Management Agency distributes funds. It’s something he did during his first term, after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017. A 2021 federal report discovered that the Trump administration delayed the provision of $20 billion in disaster relief to the island.

“It certainly could let FEMA know to drag its feet,” Farber said. “You say they’re deliberately dragging their feet for political reasons, and they’re just saying, ‘No, we’re doing the best we can.’ There is a lot of paperwork.

Newsom: “This makes me sick”

Newsom and his administration have pushed back with increasing vehemence against accusations from Trump and other prominent Republicans that a lack of available water, poor vegetation management and bureaucratic incompetence are to blame for the Los Angeles fires .

In a video call with Biden Friday morning, Newsom lamented the “hurricane-force winds of misinformation and misinformation, lies, that people want to divide this country,” which he said were harming response efforts from California.