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California Gov. Gavin Newson passed the buck when asked about the public’s anger over the state’s response to the devastating wildfires engulfing Los Angeles — instead claiming local leaders were failing to provide adequate information.
The Democratic leader repeatedly alleged the spread of information and “finger-pointing” amid the ongoing tragedy has made it near-impossible for him to get “straight answers” on what went wrong.
“So, I’m the governor of California and wanna know the answer. I’ve got that question, I can’t tell you, by how many people, ‘What happened?’ – on my own team, ‘What happened?’” he said.
“I’ll be candid with you, I wasn’t getting straight answers,” Newsom said during an appearance on the podcast “Pod Save America,” which was released on Saturday.
Many Angelinos are “so angry” over the state’s handling of the destructive blaze, said co-host Jon Favreau, who asked the governor to respond as the person who is “ultimately responsible” for state decisions.
The governor has also been heavily criticized after a blistering report revealed he had slashed funding earmarked for fighting wildfires by more than $100 million this fiscal year.
Newsom answered by saying he was getting “different answers” from local leaders.
“We had my team start talking to local leaders, saying, ‘What’s going on?’” Newsom said.
“When you start getting different answers, then I’m not getting the actual story.”
Newsom admitted the state may have had some lackluster responses regarding the devastating blaze — but claimed he wouldn’t be able to have a “sober” evaluation until after the wildfires are brought under control.
Instead, he bragged that the state secured dozens of helicopters and prepositioned engines, personnel, dozers, and more in half a dozen counties over the weekend in preparation for the strong and arid Santa Ana winds.
He also pointed a finger at Donald Trump, who earlier this week slammed Newson for failing to do “a good job” at handling the crisis and claiming California wasn’t taking advantage of ocean water to extinguish the flames because they were worried it would affect marine life.
“It’s words. It’s a salad. It’s the form and substance of fog. It’s made up. It’s delusional and it’s a consistent mantra from Trump going back years and years and years, and it’s reinforced over and over and over within the right wing,” Newsom told Favreau, adding Trump was only adding misinformation “into this crisis in a profoundly demeaning and damaging way.”
As of Saturday, the southern California wildfires had claimed at least 13 lives.
At least 153,000 residents have been forced to evacuate their homes in Southern California as wildfires continue to rage across the Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas.
