Gavin Newsom's planning to crash proceedings when Donald Trump makes his first visit to California in his second term on Friday to investigate the Los Angeles wildfires.
Trump and California's governor have feuded for years, with the president referring to the liberal as “newspaper” and the Democrat campaigning furiously to stop him from regaining the White House.
Tensions have been high lately as Trump has slammed Newsom's handling of the deadly wildfires.
The president is traveling outside Washington for the first time since returning to power on Friday and Los Angeles is scheduled to visit the damage.
Evacuation orders were lifted for tens of thousands Thursday as firefighters with air support slowed the spread of a massive wildfire burning through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles, but new blazes broke out in San Diego County, triggering more evacuations.
There had been no formal plans for Trump to meet Newsom, and the president had even told reporters this week that he had not given much thought to meeting the governor.
Newsom told the press Thursday that whether Trump likes it or not, he will be at LAX to greet him.
“I look forward to being there on the tarmac to thank the President, welcome him and ensure that all the resources he needs for a successful briefing are provided to him,”
Gavin Newsom's plan to crash proceedings when Donald Trump makes his first visit to California in his second term on Friday to investigate the Los Angeles wildfires
Trump and California's governor have been feuding for years, with the president referring to the liberal as “newspaper” and the Democrat campaigning furiously to prevent him from regaining the White House
He added that he will roll out the red carpet, saying: “There is no limit to the resources we will provide for that briefing.”
DailyMail.com has contacted the White House for comment.
Newsom, who has not spoken to or met with Trump since leaving the White House in 2020, sought to highlight their disagreement.
'I have a lot of relationships in the Trump world; Many trusting relationships. I communicate with many people around him, people who have his ear and influence,” he said, although he did not name anyone.
He added that they will likely discuss getting the city in time for the 2028 Olympics.
“This is a side issue, a lot of this stuff, but I know it's the show that's probably the focus of a little too much tomorrow when all I care about is what we can do to move past this moment and start rowing in the same direction to get this region back on its feet. '
Since the fires broke out on January 7, Trump has used social media and interviews to accuse the state of sending too much water to the Pacific Ocean instead of south to Los Angeles and highlighted how some hydrants were dry in the early hours of the Pacific Palisades Fire Department.
In the first hours of his second term, Trump called on federal officials to draw up plans to route more water to the crop-rich central valley and densely populated cities in the southern part of the state.
The president is traveling outside Washington for the first time since returning to power on Friday and Los Angeles is scheduled to visit the damage
Speaking during their visit to Skyway Villa Mobile Home and RV Park in Paradise, California, in 2018, seen here, Trump and Newsom have not spoken since Trump left office in 2020
Two days later, he threatened to withhold federal disaster aid unless California leaders change the state's approach to water.
Southern California is under a red flag warning for critical fire risk through Friday. The area faces constant challenges in controlling the fires as dangerous winds regained strength on Thursday.
The Hughes fire broke out late Wednesday morning and in less than a day charred nearly 10 square miles of trees and brush near Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area about 40 miles from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week .
Crews made significant progress by late afternoon on the Hughes fire, burning more than a third of it.
Two new blazes were reported Thursday in the San Diego area. Evacuations were ordered but later lifted after a brush fire broke out in the late afternoon in the wealthy enclave of La Jolla near the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine.
Farther south, near the U.S.-Mexico border, another fire spread quickly through the Otay Mountain Wilderness, home to the endangered quinoa checkerspot butterfly and other unique species.
In Ventura County, another fire shortly before led to the evacuation of California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo.
Water-dropping helicopters have made rapid progress against the Laguna fire that broke out in hills above the campus of about 7,000 students. The evacuation order was later downgraded to a warning.
Pictured: A Malibu neighborhood that was completely destroyed by the Palisades Fire
Rain is forecast for the weekend and could potentially end Southern California's months-long dry spell.
Winds are also not as strong as they were when the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out, allowing firefighting planes to dump tens of thousands of gallons of fire retardant.
That helped the fight against the Hughes fire in the Castaic area north of Los Angeles, allowing helicopters to drop water, keeping it from growing, spokesman Jeremy Ruiz said.
“We had helicopters keeping it under control until about 3 a.m.,” he said.
Nearly 54,000 residents in the Castaic area remained under evacuation warnings Thursday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said. There were no reports of homes or other structures burned.
The Palisades Fire was more than three-quarters contained and the Eaton Fire was 95% contained as of Thursday.
The two fires have killed at least 28 people and destroyed more than 14,000 structures since they broke out Jan. 7.
Rain was expected to start Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
Insurance experts have warned that you could end up paying for California's wildfires by companies raising rates to offset massive losses (pictured: Fire crews battling the Kenneth Fire – now 100 percent contained – on January 9)
Officials welcomed the wet weather, but crews also shored up hills and installed barriers to prevent debris flows as residents returned to the charred Pacific Palisades and Altadena areas.
The California fires overall caused at least $28 billion in insured damage and probably a bit more in uninsured damage, according to Karen Clark and Company, a disaster modeling company known for accurate post-catastrophe damage assessments.
On the heels of that assessment, California Republicans are pushing back against suggestions from President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and others that federal disaster aid for wildfire victims should come on a closed-loop basis.
The state Legislature approved a more than $2.5 billion fire relief package Thursday, in part to help the Los Angeles area recover from the fires.
