WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump is expected to visit the Los Angeles area next week to view damage from the wildfires, he said Saturday. The trip is expected to be his first outside the state capital after Monday's opening.
“I probably will be by the end of the week. “I was going to go yesterday, but I thought it would be better if I went as president,” Trump told NBC's Kristen Welker in a telephone interview. “It’s a little more appropriate, I suppose.”
Representatives for Trump did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
The devastating fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and surrounding communities killed at least 27 people and destroyed more than 12,000 structures. Asked whether he would sign disaster relief for the region after taking office, Trump said his answer would depend on demanding policy changes in California.
“We’re going to look at it from many angles,” he said. “We will demand that water from the north be directed to the lower parts of California.”
Asked if he had spoken to Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom Trump had called on to resign over his response to the wildfires, the president-elect said he had not.
Newsom's office invited Trump to view the devastation last week.
The governor's office said the president-elect's transition team acknowledged receipt of the invitation but did not respond otherwise.
“As our invitation states, we hope Trump will come to California to see the devastation, meet firefighters and survivors and learn the facts, rather than firing shots from the sidelines,” the governor's office said Saturday in an explanation.
Times staff writer Taryn Luna in Sacramento contributed to this report.