Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) welcomed President Donald Trump on a California tarmac Friday as the two men feud over the future of Los Angeles wildfire aid.
Newsom, approaching Trump at the Los Angeles International Airport, briefly shook his hand and patted him on the back as he seeks to secure federal dollars to address weeks of fires that have killed at least two dozen people and caused billions in damage.
“Thank you for being here,” Newsom told Trump in front of reporters. “It means a great deal to all of us, not just the folks in the Palisades, the folks in Altadena that were devastated. We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help. You were there for us during COVID. I don’t forget that. And I have all the expectations that we’ll be able to work together to get the speed recovery.”
Trump has pummeled Newsom over the wildfires, blaming the state’s environmental practices for the blaze and demanding concessions if California wants his administration’s help. Earlier on Friday, he named voter ID and water reforms as his two conditions, prompting pushback from Newsom’s office.
“We’re looking to get something completed, and the way you get it completed is to work together as the governor of the state,” Trump said as he stood beside Newsom.
Trump has for years sparred with Newsom, adopting the moniker “Newscum” as a taunt. In turn, Newsom has burnished his national reputation with the rivalry. He asked the state legislature for millions to be set aside for a litigation fund ahead of Trump’s return to the Oval Office.
Now, Newsom is in the position of needing a Republican-led Washington’s help for any wildfire relief package.
The White House did not originally coordinate Friday’s briefing and tour with Newsom’s office, but the governor told reporters this week his aides were “making sure that all the resources he needs for a successful briefing are provided to him.”
“There’s no limit to the resources we’ll provide for that briefing,” he said on Thursday.
Newsom has attempted to strike a delicate balance with Trump in the days since his second term began. He is a possible 2028 presidential candidate whose resistance to the president could help him win over a Democratic electorate. At the same time, Newsom must be seen as doing everything he can to recover from the devastation of the California wildfires.
Newsom’s office called the voter ID condition that Trump is demanding “wrong” and disputed Trump’s claims on how California is managing its water supply. But he has not responded in kind to Trump’s repeated broadsides against his management of the state.
“If you actually polled the people, they don’t want sanctuary cities, but Gavin Newsom does, and these radical left politicians do,” Trump told Fox News this week. “If you asked them why they couldn’t even — I watched Gavin Newsom try to answer that question, he was unable to even answer. He looked like an idiot. He was unable to answer.”
The president added, “I’d asked him one other question, why is it that you don’t want millions of gallons of water a day pouring throughout California? You know, the farmland in California is they say the equivalent of Iowa, great land, but it’s got no water. And you sit there and it’s literally, you can see it burning. It’s on flame.”
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the long-time Democratic foil to Trump who helped lead his first impeachment proceedings in Congress, declined to attend the trip to California despite an apparent invitation from the White House.
Trump later said he was not aware of any such invitation.
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“Sen. Schiff greatly appreciates the president’s visit to see the devastation of these wildfires firsthand and the invitation to accompany him, and regrets that he’s unable to join the President in Los Angeles due to scheduled nomination votes,” a Schiff spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner.
“Sen. Schiff is committed to working with the Trump administration, state and local leaders, as well as his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to ensure that California gets the aid and support it needs to rebuild and recover from these wildfires,” the spokeswoman added.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) will similarly not be at Friday’s fire briefing, but Ric Grenell, Trump’s presidential envoy for special missions who once contemplated running for California governor himself, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will be.
