Less than two weeks before his inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump took time on Wednesday to criticize—four times—California Governor Gavin Newsom, as three “wind-fueled wildfires” tore through Los Angeles and surrounding areas. The fires caused several deaths, destroyed more than one thousand buildings—including homes and businesses—and left massive devastation in their wake.

The Los Angeles Times called it “one of the most destructive firestorms to hit the region in memory.” At least 70,000 people have been evacuated, according to the latest AP report, and, as ABC News notes, more than 1.5 million are without power.

Wednesday afternoon, Trump blamed the massive destruction directly on Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom: “He is the blame for this,” Trump declared, calling him “Gavin Newscum.”

“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him 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,” Trump wrote on his social media website.

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Trump’s claim about refusing to sign a “water restoration declaration” was deemed false in a statement from the governor’s office.

“There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction,” the governor’s office stated. “The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”

Trump’s attacks continued, claiming Newsom “wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”

Later on Wednesday, Trump appeared to delight in the wildfire disaster.

“As of this moment, Gavin Newscum and his Los Angeles crew have contained exactly ZERO percent of the fire. It is burning at levels that even surpass last night. This is not Government. I can’t wait till January 20th!”

Trump continued to blame Newsom, and added President Joe Biden to his attack.

“The fires in Los Angeles may go down, in dollar amount, as the worst in the History of our Country. In many circles, they’re doubting whether insurance companies will even have enough money to pay for this catastrophe. Let this serve, and be emblematic, of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum Duo. January 20th cannot come fast enough!”

On Wednesday, in an all-caps rant, Trump also wrote: “No water in the fire hydrants, no money in FEMA. This is what Joe Biden is leaving me. Thanks Joe!”

The Hill reports that “Newsom and President Biden announced last month new rules to carry water to California farmers, as well as Los Angeles area residents, as a modification to the 2019 Trump-era regulation. Environmental advocates had pushed for the new rule in order to protect fish, including smelt.”

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On the campaign trail in September, then-candidate Trump threatened Newsom with withholding federal funds “to put out all his fires.”

Donald Trump: “Gavin Newsom is going to sign those papers and if he doesn’t sign those papers, we won’t give him money to put out all his fires.” pic.twitter.com/1unCeoTMs8

— Republican Voters Against Trump (@AccountableGOP) September 13, 2024

Former Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor blasted Trump, saying: “Everyone in LA is terrified right now and trying to figure out what to do, where to go, and how to keep their kids safe from fire and smoke. Our president-elect’s response is to launch another stupid political attack and pretend that the governor can stop the Santa Ana Winds.”

Meanwhile, Republicans jumped on the bandwagon and began attacking California.

Far-right U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona attacked California, suggesting they are not managing water properly, while also attacking FEMA, and spreading a false, debunked claim that the federal agency “diverted, uh, well over a billion, almost two billion dollars, to illegal alien care, and not emergency management care.”

“So we’ve got a lot of a lot of uh things that we need to assess at the federal level, uh, and and I I don’t want to jump all over this too much, but don’t forget that California uh, they, they really need to do a job statewide, managing their water resources. They, the millions of acre feet of water that they just allowed to flow out to to the uh the ocean every year.”

Rep. Andy Biggs is on Newsmax responding to the LA fires by attacking California Democrats. They’re skipping right over thoughts and prayers. pic.twitter.com/wCIGjS6wJh

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 8, 2025

Independent journalist Justin Glawe, who writes the Substack newsletter “Welcome to American Doom,” noted: “If you want an idea of the capacity for empathy from the American right, Sean Hannity is kicking off his radio show right now by blaming California wildfires on Democrats and claiming Trump was right about ‘raking’ forest floors in 2018.”

President Joe Biden, who is in California, met with Governor Newsom and offered support.

“The White House said it was surging resources to the impacted areas of California, including five U.S. Forest Service air tankers, 10 federal firefighting helicopters and dozens of fire engines from the Forest Service,” The Hill adds.

“Newsom offered praise for Biden’s response to the fires, saying during Wednesday’s briefing that it was ‘impossible for me to express the level of appreciation and cooperation we’ve seen from the White House and this administration. So on behalf of all of us, Mr. President, thank you for being here.'”

Juliette Kayyem, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy school, a CNN national security analyst, and a “national leader in homeland security and crisis management,” remarked: “In all my years in and studying disaster management, I have never seen a president (elect) blame a jurisdiction WHILE the disaster was still out of control.  It distracts, is cruel to first responders and victims, and could impede effective response.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, wasted no time trolling President-elect Donald Trump, posting a vintage map showing that a large portion of what is now the United States of America used to be called “Mexican America.” President Sheinbaum delivered her remarks in response to Trump’s claim that he will rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

President Sheinbaum “used her Wednesday morning news conference to show a world map dating from 1607. The map labeled North America as Mexican America and already identified the Gulf of Mexico as such, 169 years before the United States was founded,” The New York Times reports.

“Why don’t we call it Mexican America? It sounds pretty, no?” Dr. Sheinbaum said in Spanish (video below).

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“In response to Mr. Trump’s comment that Mexico was ‘essentially run by the cartels,’ Ms. Sheinbaum told reporters on Wednesday that, ‘with all due respect,’ the president-elect was ill-informed,” The Times also noted.

Dr. Sheinbaum, a former Mayor of Mexico City, has a PhD in energy engineering. She is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning physicist who appeared on the BBC‘s “list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2018.”

During her Wednesday press conference, President Sheinbaum also told reporters, “In Mexico, the people rule.”

“And we are going to collaborate and understand each other with the government of President Trump, I am sure of it, defending our sovereignty as a free, independent and sovereign country.”

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According to The Times, she stated that her country is “very interested in stopping the entry of U.S. firearms into Mexico,” and complained about the large number of guns illegally smuggled from the U.S.

The Washington Post’s global affairs columnist Ishaan Tharoor, pointing to the Mexican President’s comments, noted, “We’re seeing some responses to Trump’s absurdity.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

🗣️ “A Estados Unidos vamos a llamarle América Mexicana, se oye bonito”.

🔴 Claudia Sheinbaum le responde a Trump sobre su propuesta de cambiar el nombre al Golfo de México por Golfo de América pic.twitter.com/wRonC7NagG

— El Universal (@El_Universal_Mx) January 8, 2025

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Image via Reuters

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced in a filing that it intends to publicly release Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation and prosecution of Donald Trump for alleged interference with the 2020 presidential election, including his role in the January 6 insurrection, but will hold his report on the classified documents portion of his work while two of the President-elect’s co-defendants remain on trial in that case.

The classified documents portion of the report, officially “Volume Two,” will be available to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, DOJ noted, “upon their request and agreement not to release any information from Volume Two publicly.” Volume One, the 2020 election interference portion, DOJ says, will also be made available to Congress.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump-appointee, temporarily blocked the release of the Special Counsel’s report on Tuesday, NBC News reported. Lawyers for Trump’s co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, had “filed a motion Monday night asking … Cannon to block the report, citing her previous ruling that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.”

Legal experts say Judge Cannon has no jurisdictional authority to block the release of the report.

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The DOJ’s announcement on its intention to release Volume One did not indicate a timeline, but NBC News producer Daniel Barnes, who covers the federal courts and the Justice Department, offered some insight: “The timing of Volume One’s release is now in the hands of the 11th Circuit. Judge [Aileen] Cannon’s injunction from yesterday lasts until three days after the circuit rules, but DOJ is asking the circuit to immediately vacate that order.”

But, as The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports on the DOJ’s intent release Volume One, “Trump lawyers will almost certainly contest this per people familiar — they view Judge Cannon’s injunction as being binding on the ENTIRE two-volume report.”

The DOJ’s filing, posted by Lawfare senior editor Anna Bower, stated: “The Attorney General intends to release Volume One to Congress and the public consistent with 28 C.F.R. § 600.9(c) and in furtherance of the public interest in informing a co-equal branch and the public regarding this significant matter.”

“But to avoid any risk of prejudice to defendants Nauta and De Oliveira, the Attorney General has determined, at the recommendation of the Special Counsel, that he will not publicly release Volume Two so long as defendants’ criminal proceedings remain pending,” the filing also reads. “For the time being, Volume Two will be made available for in camera review only by the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees upon their request and agreement not to release any information from Volume Two publicly. This limited disclosure will further the public interest in keeping congressional leadership apprised of a significant matter within the Department while safeguarding defendants’ interests.”

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Image by Tyler Merbler via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons with a CC license