Mere hours after saying he would consider curtailing disaster aid to California and scrap the Federal Emergency Management Agency, President Donald Trump on Friday touched down in California to meet with Gov. Gavin Newsom and tour damage from the Los Angeles wildfires.
After Trump deplaned Air Force One, he engaged in another of his tug-of-war handshakes with Newsom, and the two talked for a moment on the tarmac out of microphone range. They then approached nearby reporters, and First Lady Melania Trump followed, having accepted a kiss on the cheek from Newsom.
“I appreciate the governor coming out and meeting me,” Trump said. “It’s like you got hit by a bomb,” he added of the wildfire devastation.
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After thanking the president for coming to his state, Newsom stressed, “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,“ Newsom continued, amid a series of touchy-feely back pats. ”And I have all the expectations that we’ll be able to work together to get this speedy recovery.”
(At a press conference later in the day, Trump confirmed he would “open the coffers” to support recovery efforts.)
Newsom’s comments came after Trump, who earlier toured areas in North Carolina damaged by last September’s Hurricane Helene, suggested he might shut down FEMA—and threatened to withhold disaster aid to California unless it enacts a voter ID law and water policy changes.
Trump made similar comments about FEMA during a Wednesday interview on Fox News, arguing that “all it does is complicate everything.”
As for using federal disaster aid as a bargaining chip, Trump’s actions during his first term fell along the same lines, according to former White House officials. In 2018, they claimed Trump had balked at approving disaster aid to the Golden State (also following wildfires) because the state trends Democratic.
Since the L.A. wildfires broke out earlier this month, Republicans in Congress have been seeking to tie aid to some of their desires, though there hasn’t been a consensus as to what.
