Gavin Newsom Blasts Trump Politicizing LA Fires While People Are ‘Literally Fleeing’
California Governor Gavin Newsom blasted President-elect Donald Trump’s criticism of him as Los Angeles wildfires continue to rage, accusing the Republican of trying to “politicize” a life-threatening crisis.
As blazes intensify across Southern California, Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday to assign blame to Newsom.
“He is the blame for this,” Trump wrote Wednesday. “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.”
In response, the governor’s office flatly rejected the president-elect’s accusations, dismissing them as “pure fiction.”
Speaking to CNN on Wednesday, host Anderson Cooper asked Newsom about Trump’s comments: “I hate to even ask this question, but the president-elect chose to attack you, blame you for this.”
“It’s, uh, well, one can’t even respond to it. I mean, you know, people are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives. Kids lost their schools, families completely torn asunder, churches burned down. This guy wanted to politicize it,” Newsom responded.
He continued: “I have a lot of thoughts, and I know what I want to say. I won’t. Um, I stood next to a president of the United States of America today, and I was proud to be with Joe Biden. And he had the backs of every single person in this community. He didn’t play politics, didn’t try to divide any of us.”
Watch above via CNN.
