A highly emotional mother confronted Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom this week as he toured areas near Los Angeles ravaged by the latest series of wildfires and demanded to know why there weren’t more resources to fight them, including water.
Firefighters in the country’s second-largest city discovered shortly after the fires started that they couldn’t access water from fire hydrants, which resulted in the destruction of entire affluent neighborhoods, including the Pacific Palisades.
A distraught mother caught up to Newsom on Wednesday and demanded answers.
“Governor, you got a second? Governor, governor, I live here, governor. That was my daughter’s school, governor. Please tell me what you’re going to do. I’m not going to hurt him, I promise,” the mother, who was touring the damaged areas with a Sky News team when she spotted the governor, said after running up to him.
“I’m literally talking to the president right now to specifically answer the question of what we can do for you and your daughter,” Newsom claimed, holding up his cell phone.
Unconvinced, the woman replied, “Can I hear it? Can I hear your call? Because I don’t believe it.”
“I’m sorry, there’s literally… I’ve tried five times, that’s why I’m walking around to make the call,” Newsom said.
“Why is the president not taking your call?” she demanded to know.
“Because it’s not going through,” the governor explained.
“Why? I have to get self-service. So let’s get it, let’s get it,” she said. “I want to be here when you call the president.”
As the conversation continued, the mother asked, “Why was there no water in the hydrants, governor? Is it going to be different next time?”
“It has to be, it has to be, of course,” Newsom offered, before the mother demanded to know more details. “I’m doing everything I can,” he said.
“I appreciate it. I’m going to make the call to address everything I can right now, including making sure people are safe,” Newsom said before breaking off the conversation.
“Can I have an opportunity to at least tell people you’re doing what you’re saying you’re doing? Could somebody have a contact? Can I have your contact information?” the mother pleaded.
WATCH:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis engaged in verbal combat with a legacy media reporter after he was asked if he thought President-elect Donald Trump was “politicizing” the vastly destructive wildfires near Los Angeles by blaming the situation on Democratic leaders like Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.
“Is it appropriate for a president-elect or a president to be criticizing…” a reporter could be heard asking DeSantis, who cut off her question.
“Is it appropriate for people in your industry to try to create division and to try to create narratives anytime these things happen?” DeSantis, who, along with dozens of other GOP governors, met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, shot back. “Now, you’re not as interested in doing that because Newsom is a D. If Newsom was a Republican, you guys would go try to, you would have him nailed to the wall for what they’re doing over there.
“And I know we’ve dealt with it. We just assume in Florida, anytime something happens, it’s going to be politicized by the media. So you guys sitting in judgment of Donald Trump, I mean, excuse me, I think your track record of politicizing these things is very, very bad,” he continued.
“But Trump said Newsom should resign and that the wildfires are all his fault. So do you agree with those comments?” the reporter pushed.
“I’ve had — I remember when we had the Surfside Tower collapse. I had people from the Washington Post trying to blame me for it immediately without having any facts or anything. Oh, he didn’t declare a state of emergency. First of all, state of emergency doesn’t mean you can’t respond,” DeSantis said. “It’s all that.”
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