Nov. 16 -- President Donald Trump will visit Northern California on Saturday to meet victims of the deadly Camp Fire, a week after feuding with state officials over the causes of wildfires ravaging northern and southern California.
The president will “meet with individuals impacted by the wildfires,” the White House said in a statement Thursday afternoon. Trump will land at Beale Air Force Base near Yuba City, but no other details about his trip have been announced.
At least 63 people have died in the Camp Fire, which has become the deadliest in wildfire in state history since it started on November 8, leveling the town of Paradise and displacing tens of thousands of people. At least two other people were also killed in the Woolsey Fire burning in Southern California.
Trump has approved massive disaster designation for the fires, opening the doors to millions of dollars in aid. But he angered state officials and firefighters with a tweet on Saturday blaming the fires on “gross mismanagement” by the state of its forests and threatening to withhold funding. Experts said overgrown forests were not the cause for either of the fires hitting the state, and Gov. Jerry Brown’s office blasted the president’s statement as “inane and uninformed.”
Since his tweet, the president has offered several olive branches, speaking with Brown on the phone and tweeting his support for first responders. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, toured one affected area of Paradise with the governor on Wednesday, and described the scene as “worse than any war zone I saw in Iraq.”
“I think now is the time for solidarity and understanding and let’s learn how to do this together in the best way we can, and get ready because we’re always under some kind of threat,” Brown told reporters.
But Trump is still facing criticism over his statements from some prominent Californians. Former California first lady Maria Shriver tweeted Thursday that she hoped Trump “doesn’t try to lecture or shame us” during his visit. “Tell us the money we need to rebuild is on the way. If not, don’t come.”
Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican who represents the area and plans to be there when Trump visits, said in an interview that the uproar over Trump’s forest management tweet was overblown.
“Most of the concern seemed driven by people who don’t like the president to begin with,” he said. “I think the president’s frustration was that in general, California has not been very friendly toward forest management practices that need to happen.” He added that the region has a “massive over-inventory of trees.”
The trip will mark the president’s first visit to California since he reviewed prototypes for border wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego and hosted a fundraiser in Los Angeles in March.
Trump won Butte County, which includes Paradise, by five percentage points in the 2016 election. But for most locals, partisan politics is the farthest thing from their mind as they take in the scope of the destruction.
Paradise Mayor Jody Jones said federal officials working to help the town were doing a “fabulous job, they’re working hard and helping us with everything we need.” She said she wanted to thank Trump in person for the emergency declaration, and declined to comment on his forest management tweet.
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