Trump threatens to cut off federal funding for California wildfires
President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday morning his first comments about the wildfires blazing through California attacking Gov. Gavin Newsom saying he has done a "terrible job" of forest management.
In response, Newsom tweeted, "You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation."
He also suggested that the federal government will not be giving the state funding to help battle these wildfires adding, "Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing-and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more."
This is not the first time Trump has made this threat. Last November, as crews battled the Camp and Woolsey fires, Trump blamed the state in a tweet for "gross mismanagement of the forests" and left state officials with this choice: "Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!"
Then in January, he threatened again via tweet to end federal emergency funding to help aid California’s destructive wildfires tweeting, "Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money."
Although the president has a history of casting blame on California officials, most of California's forests are owned and managed by federal agencies. Federal agencies manage 57 percent of the approximately 33 million acres of forest in the state, according to research done by the University of California.
The president also tweeted Sunday morning that California "desperately needs water." However, drought maps show that during this time California is not in desperate need of water as Trump suggested and that drought is not playing a role in the wildfires.
California fires rage through homes, hills
Thousands are being evacuated and power outages are in effect to protect those in high risk areas.
