President Donald Trump’s threat to withhold disaster aid will be tested immediately as Californians seek millions of dollars for wildfire damage, marking one of the first challenges of his presidency from intensifying catastrophes.
Trump said earlier this month that he would deny sending assistance to California after blaming Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, for supporting water policies that Trump claimed without evidence contributed to the deadly blazes in Los Angeles. Withholding aid could affect tens of thousands of people whose homes have been destroyed or damaged in the blazes that began Jan. 7. The fires could be one of the costliest disasters in U.S. history.
Another test for Trump involves a disaster request from then-Gov. Jay Inslee, the Washington state Democrat who sought federal aid on Jan. 14 — the day before his term ended — for a “bomb cyclone” in November that killed two people and damaged western areas of the state. In 2020, Trump refused to act on a disaster request by Inslee as the two men were feuding.
Inslee was replaced by Gov. Bob Ferguson (D), who sued the federal government 99 times during Trump’s first term as the state attorney general. All 12 members of Washington’s congressional delegation, which includes two House Republicans, are supporting the disaster request.