LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – In an interview late last week, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass admitted that she made a mistake by taking a trip to West Africa despite reports of severe fire weather that ultimately sparked two of the most destructive wildfires in the city’s history.
The mayor has come under heavy criticism for her absence on Jan. 7, the day the Eaton and Palisades firestorms erupted.
Bass was part of a four-person delegation sent by the Biden Administration to attend the new president of Ghana’s inauguration and posts to social media showed her posing for photographs at a reception hosted by the U.S. ambassador to Ghana about an hour and a half after the fires had started, the Los Angeles Times reported.
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An aerial view of utility trucks parked near homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire as wildfires cause damage and loss through the LA region on January 13, 2025 in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) -
An aerial view shows homes burned in the Eaton Fire on Feb. 05, 2025 in Altadena, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
A spokesperson for the mayor told The Times that the ambassador held the reception before Bass was set to return to L.A. on a military plane and that she spent most of the reception in another room making calls.
The mayor has repeatedly been asked whether she thought the trip was a mistake, usually answering that she wanted to focus on recovery efforts, though pressed by a CBS national correspondent, Bass replied “no” when asked if looking back she would have again taken the overseas trip.
The mayor reportedly landed in L.A. around 11 a.m. Jan. 8 and was spotted with Gov. Gavin Newsom by 1:30 p.m.
In Friday’s interview, the mayor said she “absolutely” erred in not being in L.A. at the time of the fires, the Daily Beast reported.
“There’s no question about that,” she said.
The mayor added that her focus now is to “bring L.A. forward” and ensure “that our city is able to recover and rebuild.”
