AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Fire crews are still on the front lines battling the Los Angeles blazes, and California's Democratic state leaders are bracing for a different fight ahead - a potential clash with the administration of President-elect Donald Trump over disaster aid. From member station KQED in San Francisco, Marisa Lagos reports.
MARISA LAGOS, BYLINE: Trump has never shied away from mixing politics with natural disasters. In his first term, Trump's FEMA briefly refused to send aid to California for a series of wildfires, then reversed the decision after direct appeals to the president. And speaking at his Palos Verdes Golf Club in September, then-candidate Trump falsely claimed that LA is in a drought because Governor Gavin Newsom won't send water south from northern California in order to protect the delta smelt, a tiny endangered fish. But LA gets most of its water from other sources, not the northern California Delta, which has been the focus of fights between Central Valley farms and environmentalists. Trump says, unless Newsom changes course...
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DONALD TRUMP: We won't give him money to put out all his fires. And if we don't give him the money to put out his fires, he's got problems. He's a lousy governor.
LAGOS: At the time, Trump's threats to withhold aid were theoretical. But now, with one day until he's sworn in for a second term, Newsom and others are concerned that Trump will make good on his promises. Here's the governor on the ground in the first 24 hours after the fires broke out.
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GAVIN NEWSOM: My message to the incoming administration - and I'm not here to play any politics - is please don't play any politics.
LAGOS: Newsom's concern isn't just rooted in past statements either. In the days after the deadly fires broke out, amid bone-dry conditions and hurricane-force winds, Trump hosted more than half a dozen social media statements, blaming Democrats for the fires and again falsely tying the urban blazes to Delta water supplies. But Republicans in California, like GOP assembly member Bill Essayli, say Democrats are overreacting.
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BILL ESSAYLI: I don't believe President Trump will punish the people of California for the inactions or incompetence of the leaders of California. I don't think that's going to happen. I do think the president-elect is going to pressure the government, both state and local, to change their policies and the way they do business.
LAGOS: But tying disaster aid to policy changes would be a dramatic break from U.S. tradition. Michael Wara, an energy and climate expert at Stanford University says it's a terrible idea.
MICHAEL WARA: I think it's really important that we push back against politicization of disaster aid no matter where the disaster is.
LAGOS: Still, Newsom and other state leaders are trying to walk a fine line, hoping that Trump's bluster is just that. In a recent letter to Trump, Newsom invited the president-elect to come to LA to see the damage. California Democrats are also making contingency plans, looking to immediately approve $2.5 billion in state funds for fire response and recovery, as well as $50 million more to fight the Trump administration in court if they need to. California attorney general Rob Bonta, a Democrat, says he also supports Newsom's proposal to set aside billions more, just in case Trump refuses to provide aid in the future.
ROB BONTA: Maybe we'll never need it. But because doubt has been cast as to whether federal disaster relief funding will be forthcoming, we can't be caught flat-footed. We should be prepared.
LAGOS: No one here knows what Trump will actually do once he takes the oath tomorrow. On Saturday, he told NBC's Kristen Welker that he will probably visit at the end of the month after he's sworn in as president.
For NPR News, I'm Marisa Lagos in San Francisco. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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