According to two people familiar with the negotiations, President-elect Donald Trump’s staff is discussing his trip to Los Angeles to assess the devastation caused by the wildfire.
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has extended an invitation to Trump, who has frequently chastised state and local leaders for their handling of the fire. On Sunday, Rep. Judy Chu, a Democrat, stated on CBS News that she planned to extend the invitation to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as well as Trump.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokesman for the Trump transition, chose not to comment on the trip talks.
Whether Trump would leave before or after his inauguration on January 20 is unknown.
At least 24 people have been killed by the wind-fueled wildfires that started last week and have destroyed over 12,300 buildings and entire towns in the Greater Los Angeles area, consuming 40,000 acres.
Vice President-elect JD Vance stated on “Fox News Sunday” this weekend that he was aware that Trump had expressed a desire to travel to California, but he provided no other information.
Trump has accused Democrats, including Mayor Karen Bass, President Joe Biden, and Newsom, of causing the extensive destruction in the Los Angeles region. Trump said in a social media post last week that the whole collapse was caused by the egregious incompetence of Bass and Newsom.
In a letter on Friday, Newsom invited Trump to inspect the damage but also criticized him for “politicizing” the accident and disseminating false information.
“The hundreds of thousands of Americans displaced from their homes and fearful for the future deserve to see us all working together in their best interests, not politicizing a human tragedy and spreading disinformation from the sidelines,” Newsom wrote in a letter.
In a Saturday Meet the Press interview, the governor informed NBC News that Trump had not yet replied to his letter.
Citing Trump’s recent attempts to stop help to states with leaders he was at odds with, the governor also expressed concern in the interview that the president-elect might follow through on his pledges to deny the state federal disaster aid following his inauguration.
In Utah, he has done it. He has done it in Puerto Rico and Michigan. In 2018, before I was even governor, he did it to California, according to Newsom.
He has therefore been doing this for a very long time.
Trump made it a point to visit catastrophe locations before of Vice President Kamala Harris or President Joe Biden during the 2024 campaign, including the location of the 2023 toxic chemical spill and atrain derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.