In a statement responding to Trump’s post, Newsom’s Director of Communications, Izzy Gardon, accused the president-elect of “playing politics” while the wildfires continued to wreak havoc in southern California.
“There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction. The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,” Gardon said.
Newsom on Tuesday declared a state of emergency over the fires, which have left around 400,000 without power as of Wednesday afternoon. Biden on Wednesday issued a major disaster declaration, clearing the way for federal assistance in the region.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social.
“Now the ultimate price is being paid,” he continued. “I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”
It appears that by mentioning a “water restoration declaration,” Trump was referring to a presidential memorandum he signed in early 2020 that sought to divert water from Northern California to farmland in the center and the south of the state.
“[It’s] going to give you a lot of water, a lot of dam, a lot of everything. You’ll be able to farm your land, and you’ll be able to do things you never thought possible,” Trump said at an event announcing the memo in California in 2020.
On the day of his announcement, Newsom and then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra denounced Trump’s move, calling it a “harmful attack on our state’s critical ecosystems and environment.”
Newsom said, “We will file legal action in the coming days to challenge the federal biological opinions to protect highly imperiled fish species close to extinction.”
