President Donald Trump arrived in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon to tour the devastation left by several deadly wildfires that broke out earlier this month.
Air Force One touched down at LAX around 2:55 p.m. with a delegation that included his wife, First Lady Melania Trump.
The president will travel to the Pacific Palisades region to tour the destruction left by the Palisades Fire before meeting with local legislators at a Los Angeles Fire Department station.
Trump is returning to California to tour the wildfire damage in the midst of an ongoing war of words with Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has pushed back on the president’s assertions that the state’s fires were mishandled or that California leaders hamstrung firefighting efforts.
Prior to arriving in California Friday, Trump told reporters in North Carolina that the Federal Government would not provide aid to Los Angeles recovery efforts unless new voter ID laws were passed and changes were made to the state’s water management system.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that California could have provided more water to firefighters battling the Palisades and Eaton fires by simply turning a valve, a notion that Newsom and water management experts have said is not true.
-
A view of burnt Bank of America in Pacific Palisades ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2025. (Getty Images) -
A view of burned businesses in downtown Pacific Palisades following the massive Los Angeles fire ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2025. ( Getty Images) -
The remains of beachside homes that burned along Pacific Coast Highway during the Palisades Fire in Malibu on Jan. 15, 2025. (Getty Images)
“Maybe the president just doesn’t know that there’s not a spigot that can be turned to solve all the water problems that he alleges exist, that don’t exist, as it relates to the state water system here in Southern California,” Newsom said of those claims.
Newsom has also pushed back on accusations that California has mismanaged its forests, emphasizing that the state oversees only about 3% of its forestland, while the majority is under federal management.
Newsom said he would be willing to meet Trump at LAX upon his arrival, but it was unclear if he would be welcomed on the tarmac when Air Force One arrived.
Photos shared by reporters on the ground showed Newsom, as promised, waiting at the airport for the arrival of his longtime political rival.
Newsom greeted the president and the first lady and the two then spoke to awaiting members of the press.
“I appreciate the governor coming out and meeting me,” Trump said. “We want to get the problem fixed … It’s like you got hit by a bomb.”
Newsom thanked the president for traveling to see the devastation firsthand and called on collaboration and unity moving forward to rebuild the once-thriving communities that were reduced to rubble.
The president, first lady and governor then departed LAX on the presidential helicopter, Marine One, to tour the destruction from the air before landing to continue on the ground.
