The Democratic California speaker of the House was pressed by local and national media figures late last week after he gaveled the chamber into a special session that aimed to approve a basket of funds to legally push back on the incoming Trump administration’s policies, including mass deportations and new energy production.
“Is now the right time to have a special legislative session on allocating money to fight [President-elect Donald] Trump in a way that you could already do without a special legislative session?” KCRA correspondent Ashley Zavala asked Speaker Robert Rivas on Thursday.
“I’m here to address … these wildfires,” Rivas initially responded, according to Fox News Digital. “This is a historic, historic wildfire. This is, this is a historic event. These wildfires, as I mentioned, are going to be, quite possibly, some of the worst wildfires and disasters in the state and national history.”
But Zavala wasn’t satisfied with that answer and fired back, saying “While this wildfire is happening, and while people are trying to understand what’s going on and are worried about disaster relief, worried about the ability to get homeowners insurance, your chamber gaveled into a special legislative session to prepare for Donald Trump in a way that you are already able to do without a special legislative session. So again, is now the right time for that?”
The Speaker again pivoted to the wildfires without directly addressing the real reason for the special session.
“So certainly our focus right now, as Speaker, Ashley, at this moment, my colleagues and I, we are acting with great urgency, great urgency, to ensure that we’re providing much needed relief to Angelenos, to ensure that we understand what it’s going to take for that for this region to recover and and to support those that have been most impacted by this disaster,” Rivas said.
“And you know it’s … the response from our first responders has been unprecedented, and they’re doing all that they can to control and contain, again, these multiple fires and doing whatever they can to ensure that they’re keeping people safe now, and again in anticipation and in preparation for recovery, and as a state, we will, as a legislature we will do everything we can to support that recovery,” he added.
WATCH:
As wildfires rage in Los Angeles, Speaker of California’s Assembly Robert Rivas would not answer my questions, if now is the right time to have a special session to legally fight Donald Trump.
Both the CA Senate & Assembly gaveled into the Trump-related special session today. pic.twitter.com/GfgXkGnrDj
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) January 9, 2025
The state Senate had also gaveled into session for the same purpose — to “Trump-proof” the state, according to Zavala.
Following President-elect Donald Trump’s electoral win, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom declared a special legislative session aimed at strengthening the state’s legal fund in anticipation of possible challenges from the Trump administration.
Trump hit back at Newsom after the announcement, saying on his Truth Social account, “He is using the term ‘Trump-Proof’ as a way of stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again,’ but I just overwhelmingly won the Election.”
WATCH:
Newsom, along with Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, have been shredded by critics for a series of mishaps, policy decisions, and failures they say have contributed to the massive devastation, which has included the complete destruction of the ritzy Pacific Palisades neighborhood and many other homes in Malibu, among other regions of the city.
Criticisms include failure to properly ensure that reservoirs were adequately filled, allowing millions of gallons of water to run into the ocean annually, no plan to clear overgrown forest beds, and the inability to get water to fire hydrants in L.A.
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