President-elect Donald Trump again assailed the water management policies of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, saying the Democrat “should immediately” release water from Northern California to aid his “dry burning state.”
Trump’s post to Truth Social on Thursday afternoon was the latest in a string this week criticizing Newsom over the policies, which the governor has said has nothing to do with water scarcity in battling the raging wildfires in Los Angeles. Trump called for Newsom to resign earlier in the day.
“Governor Gavin Newscum should immediately go to Northern California and open up the water main, and let the water flow into his dry, starving, burning State, instead of having it go out into the Pacific Ocean. It ought to be done right now, NO MORE EXCUSES FROM THIS INCOMPETENT GOVERNOR. IT’S ALREADY FAR TOO LATE!” Trump said in the post.
At issue is that Newsom in 2020 filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the then-president’s plan to deliver more water from Northern California to Central Valley farmers, saying Trump was failing to protect an endangered fish species.
"He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn't work!), but didn't care about the people of California,” Trump said in a post Wednesday.