Newsom greeted Trump on the tarmac as Air Force One landed. The two shook hands, with Trump appearing to give Newsom’s arm a tug—a signature gesture he’s used in interactions with world leaders, Fox News reported.
“Thank you first for being here. It means a great deal to all of us,” Newsom told Trump after they met on the tarmac of LAX in Los Angeles just after 3 p.m. “We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help.”
Newsom went on to say that Trump was with California “during COVID. I don’t forget that.”
The meeting marked the first face-to-face interaction between Newsom and Trump since Trump was sworn in as president on Monday. Trump expressed his appreciation for Newsom greeting him upon his arrival, saying “I think you’re going to see some very good progress” on fire recovery.
“We want to get the problem fixed,” Trump said. “It’s like you got hit by a bomb.”
In what appeared to be a reference to Newsom and other California Democrats for failing to be properly prepared for the massive fires, he added, “We’ll get it permanently fixed so it can’t happen again.”
The meeting comes as Trump has been public about his criticism of the Democratic governor for weeks after the horrendous fires wiped out entire regions of Los Angeles, including the exclusive Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
“Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” Trump alleged in a social media post Jan. 8.
During his inaugural address, Trump criticized California’s handling of the Los Angeles wildfires ahead of his visit to survey the damage on Friday.
Trump has been outspoken in his disapproval of how Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass managed the fire response, accusing them of “gross incompetence” and even suggesting that Newsom should resign as governor.
In his first televised sit-down interview since returning to the White House, Trump spoke with Fox News host Sean Hannity, criticizing Newsom for his leadership in the lead-up to the deadly wildfires and his support for sanctuary cities.
“If you actually polled the people, they don’t want sanctuary cities,” Trump told Hannity. “But Gavin Newsom does, and these radical left politicians do. I watched Gavin Newsom try to answer that question. He looked like an idiot. He was unable to answer.”
rump argued that inadequate forest management and Newsom’s reported refusal to allow stormwater from Northern California to flow freely to Southern California were contributing factors to one of the most destructive wildfires in the state’s history.
On Thursday, Newsom signed off on a relief package where the state will spend $2.5 billion to help with the Los Angeles wildfires recovery, Fox reported.
“This is about distilling a sense of hopefulness,” the governor said during a news conference announcing the package. Newsom’s administration stated that the state anticipates reimbursement from the federal government for the disaster relief funding.
“We are glad President Trump accepted the governor’s invitation to come to Los Angeles,” a representative from Newsom’s office told Fox News Digital earlier this week. “We are glad he took our invitation to heart.”
Newsom told FOX 11 Los Angeles on Thursday that he had not received any communication from the White House regarding Friday’s trip and had not spoken to Trump since he left office in 2021. However, Newsom confirmed he planned to meet with Trump upon his arrival.
“I look forward to being there on the tarmac to thank the President, welcome him,” Newsom told FOX 11. “And we’re making s
