California Governor Gavin Newsom has invited President-elect Donald Trump to personally assess the damage from the Los Angeles wildfires and meet with the victims, as the new President continues to blame Newsom and other Democrats.
In a letter to Trump posted on social media on Friday, Newsom noted their joint 2018 tour of the ruins of the Camp and Woolsey fires. “As you prepare to assume the presidency once again, I invite you to come to California once again – to meet the Americans affected by these fires, see the devastation firsthand, and join me and others to thank the heroic firefighters and first responders who put their lives at risk,” Newsom wrote.
“In the spirit of this great country, we must not politicize human tragedies or spread disinformation from the sidelines,” he added.
Trump has used the deadly wildfires to attack Newsom, one of his Democratic targets. He has made false accusations against the governor over California’s water management and attributed the fires to Democratic “incompetence.”
Newsom, in turn, has been angered by Trump’s comments at a time when his state is in the midst of a serious crisis.
“People are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives. Children lost their schools. Families completely torn apart. Churches were burning down,” Newsom told CNN on Wednesday as buildings burned behind him. “This man wanted to politicize it. I have a lot of thoughts and I know what I want to say. I won’t do that.”
At least 11 people were killed in the fires on Saturday, and some of the largest blazes are still burning, even as adverse weather conditions over the weekend threaten to spread the fires further.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com