By Mallory Wilson – The Washington Times – Wednesday, January 8, 2025

President-elect Donald Trump railed against California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday for not making sure his state has enough water amid the raging, uncontainable wildfires that have ripped through Southern California

“This is a true tragedy, and it’s a mistake of the governor and you can say the administration,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Capitol. “They don’t have any water. They didn’t have water in the fire hydrants.”

He said he has been trying to get Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, “to allow water to come,” but that he instead chose to save a species of fish called the smelt.

During Mr. Trump’s first administration he proposed diverting water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmland, which he said would help farmers facing droughts and stop wildfires.

The plan was stopped to protect the delta smelt, a tiny endangered fish that lives in the delta.

“Can you imagine, you have farmers that don’t have any water in California — they have plenty of water. They don’t have a drought. They send it out to the Pacific, and it’s crazy,” he said Wednesday.

He said Mr. Newsom “has not done a good job with that.”

But, he added, he and Mr. Newsom has “worked together very well” in the past.

Thousands have had to flee as the fires rip through the state destroying homes and other structures. It hasn’t been able to be contained due to the fires being fueled by fierce winds.

At least five people have been killed and over 1,000 structures destroyed.

“But what happened there, I don’t think, is anything that I’ve ever seen quite like it. And the insurance companies are going to have a big problem because you’re talking about big, big dollars,” Mr. Trump said.