Politics

Trump says he will ‘probably’ travel to California next week after LA fires

Published

1 year ago

January 18, 2025

President-elect Donald Trump will “probably” travel to Southern California next week, he told NBC News, making the likely first trip of his second term to the liberal stronghold still reeling from some of the worst wildfires in its history.

In a wide-ranging phone interview on Saturday with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, Trump said he “was going to go, actually yesterday,” to the Golden State, but decided “it would be better if I went as president.”

The wildfires have been raging in and around Los Angeles since Jan. 7, killing dozens and forcing tens of thousands to evacuate, according to the Associated Press, as they ravaged the country’s second-largest city.

California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom — who has been criticized by Trump and Republicans for his handling of the fires — invited Trump to visit California last week. President Joe Biden was in Los Angeles when the fires started earlier this month, and Vice President Kamala Harris, whose primary residence is in Los Angeles, canceled her final foreign trip as vice president due to the fires.

Tensions have flared in recent weeks between Trump and Newsom, and in the interview, Trump said he had not yet spoken to the governor about the fires. Trump also discussed a number of other issues, including his plans to ramp up mass deportations “very early, very quickly,” but said he didn’t want to reveal which cities the operation would begin in because “you’ll see it firsthand.”

Trump said he believes he and his team “made the right decision” to move Monday’s inauguration ceremony into the Capitol due to freezing temperatures, and added that he aims to sign “a record-setting number of documents … right after this [inauguration] speech.”

When discussing TikTok — which said it would “go dark” on Sunday after the Supreme Court ruled the app must be sold to a non-Chinese buyer — the president-elect said a “90-day extension is something that will be most likely done.”

“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday,” he added.

And on the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that Israel agreed to earlier Saturday, Trump pledged to ensure the deal would hold via “good government.” He said he would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an ally, “fairly soon.”

Politics

DC is about to pick new leaders. Trump is watching.

Published

56 minutes ago

June 16, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Washington will soon enter a new chapter after voters pick the capital’s first new mayor in a dozen years and its first new Congressional delegate since 1991. And no matter who wins Tuesday’s primaries, they’ll be on a collision course with President Donald Trump.

The frontrunners in both races have hinged their campaigns on opposition to Trump, who since returning to office has chipped away at Washington’s autonomy and sought to remake parts of the city in his image. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has led the city since taking office in 2015, has taken a pragmatic approach to working with the president in an apparent effort to avoid further furor. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has represented the District since 1991 and condemned Trump’s actions in strongly worded statements, but the 89-year-old has dodged the spotlight amid questions about her acuity and ability to serve.

The candidates running to replace them say that’s far from enough.

In interviews with Blue Light News, those leading candidates emphasized that they hoped to find common ground with the Trump administration and coordinate where possible, especially on projects that could jumpstart Washington’s sluggish economy. But they all drew a red line at Trump’s extraordinary law enforcement actions, including sending in the National Guard indefinitely and surging federal immigration agents in coordination with local police.

“Washington, D.C., residents want and deserve a mayor who’s going to stand up and fight back, and that’s what I’m bringing,” said Kenyan McDuffie, a relatively moderate, pro-business former D.C. Council member who is polling second in the mayor’s race. He has pledged to end coordination between the Metropolitan Police Department and ICE on his first day in office.

Janeese Lewis George, a D.C. council member who is polling more than 10 points ahead of McDuffie, has taken an even more adversarial posture against the president. She told Blue Light News she would “actively tell our employees to resist” if Trump again federalized the MPD, adding that she would work with D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb “to defend D.C.”

Trump is already making known his displeasure — particularly with Lewis George, a democratic socialist whose platform and campaign are reminiscent of those of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Asked last week about the possibility of Lewis George winning the primary, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “I wouldn’t like it.”

“Maybe we’ll take back Washington, run it on a federal basis,” he continued. “We won’t put up with it. We’re not gonna lose our businesses.”

Lewis George’s campaign almost immediately cut Trump’s comments into an ad. “Look, we’re not going to get ICE off our streets by fearing this president,” she said in response. “We’re not going to protect our rights, or Home Rule, by complying in advance. Threatening Home Rule because you don’t like how residents are voting is an attack on democracy itself. The people of D.C. elect their mayor, and they want someone who’s gonna stand up to Donald Trump.”

There’s a similar sentiment among the leading delegate candidates.

Robert White, a city council member and one of two frontrunners in the delegate race, described Trump’s surge of federal agents and National Guard troops to the city as “lawlessness” and “the opposite of public safety.” He said he would seek to build a coalition in Congress to “push back in every way.”

Brooke Pinto, a fellow council member and the other delegate frontrunner who has centered public safety in her campaign, said the administration’s use of National Guard troops and ICE agents have not helped the city. “While I am very committed to advancing public safety in the District of Columbia, what we’re seeing from the Trump administration undermines those efforts,” she said.

That type of messaging is politically savvy in a city with an electorate that heavily supported Kamala Harris in 2024 and whose lives have been directly impacted by the president’s grip over Washington — from the troop surge to his sweeping cuts to government programs and razing of the federal workforce, which have severely contracted the District’s economy. That’s not to mention his efforts to splash his name and face across federal buildings, and mounting moves to beautify portions of the city and stand up ambitious architectural projects.

“When politicians try to interfere with our local public safety, when they are sweeping up unhoused residents, cutting jobs, when they are pushing policies that negatively affect our local economy and driving up overall costs of everything from gas to housing, I’m going to fight back,” McDuffie said.

But it sets the candidates — whoever wins — in explicit opposition to Trump, who has consistently sought to bring his enemies to heel whenever he gets the chance. The president has several levers at his disposal if he chooses to retaliate against Washington, from another federal law enforcement surge to using his influence over Congress to weaken D.C. Home Rule. The city also depends on the federal government for high-profile projects that would improve public spaces and bring jobs to the District, including upgrades to Union Station and the redevelopment of the RFK Stadium campus.

Asked how the White House is preparing for a potentially more adversarial mayor and delegate, a spokesperson referred Blue Light News back to Trump’s Oval Office comments.

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