Newsom Blasts Trump for “Misinformation” About California Wildfires

California Governor Gavin Newsom has sharply criticized former President Donald Trump for spreading what he called “misinformation” about water shortages during the devastating California wildfires that occurred nearly a year ago.

“It was hurricane force bulls—” coming from Trump’s weaponized lies and disinformation, amplified by Elon Musk,” Newsom told MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff in an interview released Monday. The California Democrat’s remarks were in response to questions about claims made during the height of the crisis.

The controversy stems from a January incident when Musk hosted a livestream on X (formerly Twitter) where he questioned firefighters about potential water shortages in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. During that exchange, Musk asked fire command personnel whether there was a shortage of water in the Palisades but not in nearby Malibu.

A fire official responded by explaining that firefighters were “flowing an amount of water that the system couldn’t handle… it was overbearing just because of how much water these firefighters were utilizing.” Newsom later shared this exchange on his own X account, claiming Musk had been “exposed by firefighters.”

During the wildfires, both Trump and Musk were vocal critics of California’s emergency response and environmental management policies. Musk wrote on X that while “climate change risk is real,” the destruction in Los Angeles was primarily due to “nonsensical overregulation that prevented creating fire breaks and doing brush clearing” and “bad governance at the state and local level that resulted in a shortage of water.”

Trump, who was president-elect at the time, made more specific allegations in a post on Truth Social. He claimed water shortages resulted from Newsom’s failure to “sign the water restoration declaration” that would have “allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.”

Newsom’s office promptly rejected Trump’s claims, calling the alleged declaration “pure fiction.”

“For the first time in history, we have a president that is promoting misinformation in the middle of these disasters, in the middle of emergencies where lives are quite literally on the line, and people are buying the bulls—, hook-line and sinker,” Newsom told Soboroff, expressing frustration at how widely Trump’s claims were believed.

When contacted for comment, the White House defended Trump’s handling of the disaster. In a statement to Fox News Digital, officials said: “President Trump’s historic leadership following the LA wildfires led to the fastest hazardous debris removal operation in history. This has played a critical role in helping communities recover from tragedy.”

The statement continued by criticizing California officials: “But while President Trump expedited the process, Gavin Newscum’s and Karen Bass’ lack of preparation made the disaster worse than it needed to be – they drained the Santa Ynez Reservoir and failed to prepare to utilize pumps and aqueducts. Then, they slowed the recovery process with permit approvals dragging on despite the President’s tremendous efforts to help the overall process.”

The exchange highlights the ongoing political tensions surrounding disaster management in California, a state that has faced increasingly severe wildfire seasons in recent years due to climate change, forest management challenges, and expanding urban development in fire-prone areas.

Wildfires in California have become increasingly politicized, with debates often centering on the balance between environmental protection, infrastructure investment, and emergency preparedness. The dispute between Newsom and Trump illustrates how natural disasters can become battlegrounds for larger political narratives about governance and environmental policy.

For California residents who suffered through the devastating fires, the political back-and-forth offers little comfort as communities continue their recovery efforts and prepare for future fire seasons in an increasingly volatile climate.