Trump says he wants voter ID laws as condition for wildfire aid for California
President Donald Trump on Friday continued to blast California's response to the wildfires, and seemed to add a new condition on additional aid for the wildfires.
"I want to see two things in Los Angeles, voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and the state. Those are the two things," Trump said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom's office responded to Trump's comments about California's provision of water and his calls to condition additional aid for disaster response.
In an X post, the office said that "conditioning aid for American citizens is wrong."
This comes after Trump said that he wanted to see the taps turned on and voter ID laws in the state when asked about whether he'd condition additional aid for California.
Newsom's office also said the state has not made any changes to the amount of water it pumps since the first Trump presidency.
"FACT: California pumps as much water now as it could under prior Trump-era policies," the governor's office said in the post, adding that the state already has voter ID laws.
"FACT: Under current CA law you must be a CA resident and US citizen (and attest to being one under penalty of perjury) AND provide a form of ID such as driver's license or passport that has been approved by the Secretary of State in order to register to vote," the governor's office said in the post.
Trump plans to tour Pacific Palisades on Friday, where rows of homes burned to the ground. He's expected to receive a briefing on the fires, which are ongoing, with thousands of people under evacuation orders.
Trump has showered California leaders with disdain for water policies that he falsely claimed worsened the recent blazes. He said he would "take a look at a fire that could have been put out if they let the water flow, but they didn't let the water flow."
Members of Congress will be at the briefing, and the meeting could prove contentious. Trump has suggested using federal disaster assistance as a bargaining chip during unrelated legislative negotiations over government borrowing, or as leverage to persuade California to change its water policies.
"Playing politics with people's livelihoods is unacceptable and a slap in the face to the Southern California wildfire victims and to our brave first responders," said Rep. Young Kim, a Republican from Orange County, in a recent statement.
Trump has been focused on California water policies, specifically fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state.
"I don't think we should give California anything until they let the water run down," Trump said Wednesday in an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity.
