Trump tours LA wildfires after threats to withhold aid over water policy, voter ID
President Donald Trump landed in California on Friday afternoon to tour damage caused by wildfires in Los Angeles on Friday as he continues to feud with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over his handling of the disaster and federal aid.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump were greeted on the tarmac by Newsom. Despite recently sparring over the response, the two shook hands and promised to work together in a cordial exchange.
"We're looking to get something completed, and the way you get it completed is to work together. He's the governor of the state, and we're going to get it completed," Trump said. "They're going to need a lot of federal help. We're going to take care of things."
Newsom thanked Trump for being there.
"We're going to need your support. We're going to need your help," Newsom said. "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 this speedy recovery."
Trump arrived in Los Angeles after first making a visit to North Carolina, hit by Hurricane Helene in September.
"I'm stopping in North Carolina, first up, because those people were treated very badly by Democrats and I'm stopping there," Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity in an interview before the trip. "We're going to get that thing straightened out because they're still suffering from a hurricane from months ago. And then, I'm going to ... California."
Trump and Republican congressional leaders have said they would attach conditions to federal disaster aid mandating changes in California's water policies and forest management.
"I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down," the president told Hannity, claiming water from northern California needed to be redirected south.
Then on Friday, he added a second -- political -- condition.
"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 the state. Those are the two things," Trump said.
ABC News has kicked off "SoCal Strong" (#SoCalStrong), highlighting the impacted communities and offering fundraising opportunities for victims of the fires. The coverage will continue across multiple ABC News programs and platforms.
Newsom's office decried Trump's conditions in a post on X Friday afternoon.
"Conditioning aid for American citizens is wrong," it said in the post. "FACT: Under current CA law you must be a CA resident and US citizen (and attest to being one under penalty of perjury) AND provide a form of ID such as driver’s license or passport that has been approved by the Secretary of State in order to register to vote."
California officials have repeatedly pushed back on Trump's assertions about water policy as well.
Trump's claims that measures to protect the delta smelt, an endangered fish, upstate affected L.A.'s water supply are false, according to Ashley Overhouse, a California water policy adviser for the nonprofit conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife.
Overhouse told ABC News that even the most protective regulations for delta smelt, during former President Barack Obama's administration, accounted for only about 1.2% of additional outflow.
On Thursday, the House passed the Fix Our Forests Act, a bipartisan measure that's intended to help prevent catastrophic wildfires and provide proper forest management.
The bill provides fire departments information about how much and when they will get reimbursed for wildfire costs, supports post-fire recovery activities, assesses and helps better predict fires in high-risk areas and states through data, expedites environmental reviews to reduce planning times and costs for critical forest management and establishes an interagency center to help state and local governments.
