Trump says he may withhold federal aid for Los Angeles if California doesn't change water policies

U.S. President Donald Trump today threatened to withhold federal disaster aid for fire-ravaged Los Angeles unless California leaders change the state’s water management practices. In an interview with Fox News, Trump again falsely claimed that fish protection efforts in the northern part of the state were the reason why fire hydrants in urban areas had no water.

Trump placed the blame for Los Angeles’ difficulty in controlling deadly fires on Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, his political rival, and called for partnership and mutual respect as the state government fights the fires. President Trump today threatened to withhold federal disaster aid for fire-ravaged Los Angeles. “I don’t think we should give California anything until they let that water flow,” Trump said.

He issued the threat as he prepared to begin his first presidential visit of his second term. Tomorrow, he will visit Southern California, as well as western parts of North Carolina that are recovering from Hurricane Helen more than three months ago. In the interview, Trump also called for reform of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, claiming the agency “holds up everything.” “I’d rather see the states handle it themselves,” he said. He did not elaborate on his proposed reforms, saying only that the agency “will be a big topic very soon.”

In other developments in the new administration, Trump yesterday met with a small group of the most politically vulnerable House Republicans as the party struggles to agree on a strategy for implementing tax cuts and other priorities promised to voters. The meeting came as Trump seeks to advance other priorities in the first week of his second term. About 160 National Security Council aides were sent home while it is determined whether they align with Trump’s agenda. The Pentagon has begun deploying 1,500 active-duty troops to support border security efforts. “The American people have been waiting for this moment,” White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said.

Trump’s senior advisor Stephen Miller met with Senate Republicans to brief them on plans for deportations and the reinstatement of Title 42, the policy implemented during the coronavirus pandemic to stop border crossings. Although Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress, they have thin majorities on Capitol Hill and are divided on how to proceed on so many issues. Trump’s meetings come during a series of private “listening sessions” with House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose ability to unite his conference will be severely tested in the weeks and months ahead.

Trump held his own dinner with Republican lawmakers at Mar-a-Lago, and he is also preparing to address them next week at his private resort in Doral, Florida, where the president owns a resort. “We’re working closely with the White House because this is an America-first agenda that needs both branches of government working together,” Johnson said at a press conference yesterday. Trump also announced his picks for head of the U.S. Secret Service and ambassador to the European Union yesterday. He nominated former fast-food executive Andrew Puzder as EU envoy and Secret Service veteran Sean Curran as director of the U.S. Secret Service.

Puzder, the former CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, was nominated to be Labor Secretary at the beginning of Trump’s first term, but he abruptly withdrew his nomination after Senate Republicans objected in part to his late payment of taxes on a domestic worker who was unauthorized to work in the U.S. Puzder paid the taxes for the domestic worker after Trump nominated him for the cabinet position, and five years after he fired the worker. Curran was one of the agents who rushed to Trump’s side to help him after he was shot in the ear in a failed assassination attempt at a July campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

He served as the assistant special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division during Trump’s first term. In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised Curran’s “fearless courage” in the Pennsylvania assassination attempt. “Sean is known for his exceptional leadership and his ability to guide and lead operational security plans for some of the most complex special security events in our nation and world’s history,” Trump said. Trump also suggested in the Fox News interview that he would like to see investigations into former President Joe Biden.

Trump is the first president to be convicted of a felony — in a case involving hush-money payments for business records — and faces criminal charges for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. “It’s really hard to say that they shouldn’t go through it also,” he said.