The Oval Office meeting, less than two weeks after Trump pledged to help the city rebuild during a visit to survey the damage, underscores the fine political tightrope Newsom must walk to secure desperately needed assistance for his state at a moment when his party – and many of his constituents – are demanding their leaders take a stronger stand against the new administration.
Gavin Newsom is scheduled to meet with Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, as the California governor seeks federal disaster aid for the Los Angeles communities devastated by recent wildfires.
California governor heads to White House to seek wildfire aid from Trump Gavin Newsom to meet with president Wednesday as he seeks assistance for LA communities destroyed by wildfires.
Since the fires spread last month, however, Newsom has been less vocal in his criticism of the president’s actions, even as his party grows increasingly alarmed by the Trump administration’s move to overhaul the federal government.
The president has repeatedly threatened to withhold federal disaster aid from the state unless its Democratic leaders change their approach to water management – a long-running gripe of Trump’s, but a change experts say would not have mitigated the scale of the devastation or improved the response.
