Trump to Visit Disaster-Hit Asheville and Los Angeles
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s first trip since returning to the White House will take him to Asheville, North Carolina, and the Los Angeles area in California, communities where he has loudly criticized the federal response to recent natural disasters.
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Trump, during an event at the White House on Tuesday, said he would first stop in North Carolina on Friday before traveling from there to California as well as Nevada.
“We’re going to take care of Los Angeles. I’m going there. I’m going to North Carolina, which has been abandoned by the Democrats,” Trump said. “I’ll be there on Friday, and then I’m going from there to Los Angeles.”
Trump said his stop in Nevada, a swing-state which he carried in the 2024 presidential election, during his trip was to “thank them” for their vote. “I just want to go there to thank the people of Nevada for the big vote,” he said.
Asheville is still recovering from September’s historic flooding caused by Hurricane Helene, while in Los Angeles devastating wildfires made worse by strong winds have burned entire neighborhoods.
Trump cited the disasters during his inauguration speech Monday as examples of an insufficient federal response to communities in need.
“Our country can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency, as recently shown by the wonderful people of North Carolina, who been treated so badly, and other states who are still suffering from a hurricane that took place many months ago,” Trump said. “Or more recently, Los Angeles, where we are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense.”
The trip was first reported by the New York Post.
Trump has repeatedly slammed Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom as well as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for their handling of the fires. The president has also made inaccurate claims about the effects of California’s water policy on firefighting abilities. One of Trump’s first executive orders was to renew efforts to divert more water from Northern California south to the Central Valley and Southern California.
Trump on Tuesday repeated his claims that the state was not providing enough water to help fight the blazes in Los Angeles. “Los Angeles has massive amounts of water available to it. All they have to do is turn the valve,” Trump said.
Newsom, who is widely seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, invited Trump earlier this month to tour the damage and said those displaced from their homes “deserve to see us all working together in their best interests, not politicizing a human tragedy and spreading disinformation from the sidelines.”
On the campaign trail, Trump also assailed then-President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over the response to the storm in North Carolina. Democrats accused Trump of fanning conspiracy theories about what assistance the federal government was providing residents.
Looming over Trump’s visit Friday are questions about federal funding for disaster recovery. Several congressional Republicans have insisted that money to aid California be tied to requiring substantial policy changes in the state, where Democrats control both the governorship and the state legislature.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, declined to commit to “no-strings attached” disaster aid, as is traditional for emergency funding legislation.
“When the state and local officials make foolish policy decisions that make the disaster exponentially worse, we need to factor that in,” Johnson said. “And I think that’s a common-sense notion.”
Newsom has aggressively rejected suggestions aid that aid should be conditioned, reminding Johnson that his home state of Louisiana benefited from generous congressional aid, including after Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans in 2005.
“Millions of your supporters are out here and they need your help, empathy, care and whatever compassion you are willing to express,” Newsom said in an X post on Jan. 16.
Trump’s California visit will follow that of Harris, who has a home in Brentwood that was placed under an evacuation order during the first days of the Palisades fire. Though she hasn’t specified future plans, Harris is often mentioned by political observers as a possible candidate for governor of California in 2026.
Harris, in her first public engagement after departing the White House, stopped by a pair of World Central Kitchen food distribution sites in Altadena.
Trump, who defeated Harris in the 2024 presidential election, has feuded with World Central Kitchen founder and chef Jose Andres since he pulled out of a deal to operate a restaurant at Trump’s Washington hotel.
(Updates with Trump remarks in paragraphs two-four, ten, and Andres in final paragraph.)
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