Donald Trump/claims/CA wildfires

2025-01-08 Sat

Claims

At 11:40, Trump claimed that:

• CA Governor Gavin Newsom refused to sign a "water restoration declaration" that was submitted to him.
• This legislation would have "that would have allowed millions of gallons of water" per day into California, including the parts being ravaged by fire.
• He refused because he wanted to protect smelt habitats.
• ...by giving them less water.
• His efforts to protect this fish didn't work.
• The water deficit is so severe that there is "no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes."

At 14:25, Trump reiterated the fire hydrants claim, and added a claim that there is "no money in FEMA".

Reality

• FEMA is adequately funded for now, due in part to Biden's efforts; see FEMA funding.

2025-01-28 Fri

Claims

Trump claimed that:

• the US military has "turned on the water" to California
• ...giving it access to a supply "flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond"...
• ... presumably via some pipeline which he believes exists and had been turned off.

In that same post, he also implies that :

• The fact of this water-supply having been turned off is what created California's environmental crisis.
• Having restored the supply has ended that crisis.
• The crisis was fake because the water could have been turned back on at any time.
• The water was turned off as a political stunt by environmentalists.

He never mentions the connection, but anyone who has been following the news might have assumed that the military was acting on his orders of 4 days earlier and that therefore Trump essentially put out the wildfires and fixed a politically-engineered environmental crisis with a stroke of the pen.

The claim was reiterated in a White House press briefing on January 28 (archive).

Reality

• There is no such pipeline.
• No water supply to California was ever "turned off".
• The military did not "restore water" to California.
• The military did not even enter California. (CA DWR)
• All of the claims in his post are therefore completely false and ridiculous.

Follow-up

• 2025-01-28
  • 06:35 (@X-Twitter): The post was reshared approvingly in a pinned post by user @AwakenedOutlaw, who amplified a bit on the "fake crisis" theme by stating that this action is "exposing the grand deception of drought".
  • 09:19 (@X-Twitter): The Department of Governmental Efficiency posted congratulations to the administration and the DOI «for more than doubling the Federally pumped water flowing toward Southern California in < 72 hours.»

News

News

• 2025/01/30 19:05 UTC [L..T] Trump falsely claims military restored water to California «No water supply from the Pacific Northwest connects into California's systems, contrary to claims from US President Donald Trump. Federal and state agencies outside of the White House and independent experts said Trump's claims that the military "turned on the water" for fire-ravaged Southern California are false.»
• 2025/01/28 22:49 UTC [L..T] California water regulators deny Trump's claim that US military 'turned on the water' in the state «California water officials said this week there's no truth to President Donald Trump's assertion that the U.S. military has entered California and "turned on the water."»
• 2025/01/28 04:12 UTC [L..T] @realDonaldTrump/posts/113904028349476462 [full text] «The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond. The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!» Presumably he also wants us to think this rescue is due to his order 4 days earlier.
• 2025/01/28 [L..T] Trump Claimed US Military 'Turned on the Water' in Fire-Scorched California. Here's What We Know ...«the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), which manages the state's water resources, posted (archived) on X shortly after Trump's Truth Social post that the military did not enter California. Rather, the department said: "The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days." According to the DWR, water supplies in Southern California remained "plentiful."»
• 2025/01/11 15:06 UTC [L..T] Fact check: As wildfires rage, Trump lashes out with false claims about FEMA and California water policy «Trump's claim is false. Though FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund was depleted last year by a series of major disasters, Biden signed a bill in December that replenished the fund. "The current balance of the Disaster Relief Fund is approximately $27 billion," FEMA told CNN in an email on Wednesday. That sum may well prove inadequate to meet the needs created by every disaster that ends up happening this year, but it’s not "no money."»
• 2025/01/11 00:24 UTC [L..T] Trump's claim about CA Gov. Newsom refusing to sign water restoration declaration is false «Contrary to Trump's claims, a "water restoration declaration" doesn’t exist and there are no water shortages hindering firefighting efforts.»
• 2025/01/08 18:57 UTC [L..T] @GovPressOffice/status/1877067195043221875 [full text] «There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction. / The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.»
• 2025/01/08 14:25 UTC [L..T] @realDonaldTrump/posts/113794373085936970 [full text] «NO WATER IN THE FIRE HYDRANTS, NO MONEY IN FEMA. THIS IS WHAT JOE BIDEN IS LEAVING ME. THANKS JOE!»
• 2025/01/08 11:40 UTC [L..T] @realDonaldTrump/posts/113793724958051185 [full text] «Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way. 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. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!»