President Trump tangled with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Friday after touring wildfire damage in America's second-largest city — demanding that she use “emergency powers” and allow residents to return to their homes to rebuild.
Trump, 78, defended residents' complaints about not being allowed access to their properties to clear up debris and begin reconstruction while blaming local politics for causing the disaster's $250 billion cost.
“I just think you have to let the people go to their site and start the process tonight,” Trump told the Democratic mayor, who was sitting next to him during a roundtable discussion that included most of the district's congressional delegation.
“And we will,” Bass claimed, though she contradicted herself minutes later by offering a one-week time frame for residents to allow the charred remains to be visited in their homes.
“We want people to be safe,” Bass protested — as residents shouted protests from across the room.
“I saw hundreds of people standing in front of them, and they weren't allowed in,” the president responded.
“It's all burned. It's gone, it's done. Nothing's going to happen… People are everywhere. They're standing up and saying… 'We're trying to get a permit,' and the permit is going to take them, like everyone said, 18 months.”
“We can't even see our homes now!” shouted a local woman.
“You have emergency powers, just as I do, and I exercise my emergency powers. You have to exercise them, too,” Bass Trump said.
“I practiced them,” she insisted.
“If individuals want to remove their property, they can.” She said.
When another resident shouted, she said, “You'll be able to come back soon. We're thinking within a week.”
“A week is actually a long time, and the way I look at it,” Trump chided the mayor, insisting, “It's safe.”
The newly inaugurated president, who took office Monday, said he would try to score the rebuilding by waiving any federal permits and that he would pressure California officials to do the same.
“We will waive all federal permits,” Trump said. “I'm going to bypass the Coastal Commission, I won't let them get away with the antics.”
The president blamed Democrats, including those in attendance, for causing the crisis by failing to clean up compact vegetation, supplying inadequate water to the area — allowing the fund's fires to run dry — and creating a situation where several fire insurance providers pulled out of the area last year.
Trump said he would allow water to flow from Northern California to the Los Angeles area — a reference to Gov. Gavin Newsom's frequent criticism for not doing so, though Trump did not use his name — and demanded better management of dry brush.
The governor met Trump on the tarmac when he arrived in Los Angeles, but did not join Trump's subsequent meetings with residents, firefighters and local leaders.
“I am signing an executive order to open up the pumps and valves in the North. We want to get this water flowing here as quickly as possible to allow hundreds of millions of gallons of water to flow into Southern California,” Trump said.
“I'm telling you who likes it is the fire department…highly recommended this seven years ago. And I think I'll just do it.”
He added: “You have plenty of water. Use it and be happy with it.”
Few Democratic officials appealed directly to the commander-in-chief — except for Bass and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), who urged Trump not to withhold money on government voting policy, which he said earlier Friday would be a “case” for aid.
Trump, meanwhile, criticized Democrats including Sherman over the lack of fire insurance by many Los Angeles residents, saying he “wasn't a fan” of insurance company debts, but that “you lost your insurance companies six months ago because the state You won't give them what they were meant to be.”
“People who think like you make it absolutely impossible,” Trump told Sherman.
At another point, Trump ripped into former President Joe Biden, telling Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) — who implored him to “remember the people in Altadena and Pasadena” — “This happened during the lifetime of another president — not me — but I’ll be the president who will help you fix it.” Because he wasn't able to help you fix it.”
Biden, 82, is vacationing at the billionaire's ranch in nearby Santa Ynez.
Trump has focused much of his remarks on environmental concerns, which he said could hinder reconstruction and water flow.
“They use the environment to make themselves feel good, and they are destroying our country. And at some point, you have to put your foot down,” he said.
“They're talking about The Delta Fish, which is a big fish, but it really shouldn't be protected because it's in other areas. It's in a lot of other areas. So it shouldn't be protected,” Trump said to applause from Republicans in attendance.
“Some ecological groups are like trees that just melt into the ground, but when they melt into the ground, it becomes hell.”
Trump said he was putting his top ambassador to Germany, Rick Grenell, in charge of federal wildfire recovery efforts.
During the roundtable, the president did not say he would lead to voting law changes in exchange for federal funds while addressing the California crowd—although he said he would do so during his visit to North Carolina earlier in the day.
“We're going to have a big celebration soon,” Trump said. “We will come back, and we will come back as much as you need. We will manage it and we will open the safes, you know America wants to take care of it.”
Referring to his inaugural address, Trump said: “There can be no Gilded Age without the Golden State.”
