Trump’s LA fire guests: A GOP water expert and Biden’s forest chief

By Camille von Kaenel | 01/24/2025 04:14 PM EST

The president’s initial guest list doesn’t include Gov. Gavin Newsom or state forest officials on his trip to the Los Angeles fires — but he’s bringing the head of the Forest Service, a Biden appointee with California experience.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media after he and first lady Melania Trump stepped off Air Force One upon their arrival at Asheville Regional Airport.

President Donald Trump, pictured in North Carolina on Friday morning, is heading to Los Angeles on Friday afternoon. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

President Donald Trump is scheduled to surround himself mostly with Republicans who echo his forest and water management critiques of California during his trip to Los Angeles on Friday afternoon. But he’s also bringing the top federal forest official — a holdover from the Biden administration with years of California experience.

Trump tapped U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore, whom former President Joe Biden named to his post in 2021, to accompany him in Los Angeles. Trump initial guest list doesn’t include Gov. Gavin Newsom or California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, Moore’s state-level counterpart, who had a showdown with Trump about the role of climate change in wildfires in 2020.

Moore has been playing a role in helping manage the federal response to the fires since they started two weeks ago, bridging Trump’s inauguration. While Forest Service chief isn’t a political appointment, it typically changes over with a new administration.

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Moore, an agency veteran, previously ran the Forest Service’s operations in California. He has increased the agency’s active forest management, including prescribed fire, but has been hampered by deep budget gaps that forced the agency to stop hiring seasonal workers.

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