Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom publicly appealed to President Donald Trump for assistance in helping Los Angeles recover from the devastating wildfires as the city prepares to host the 2028 Olympics. While Newsom acknowledged Trump’s role in securing the Olympics for Los Angeles, describing it as “an opportunity for him to shine,” Trump continues to propagate false claims about the situation, prompting California to respond.
“President Donald Trump was helpful in getting the Olympics to the United States of America — to get it down here in LA. We thank him for that. This is an opportunity for him to shine, for this country to shine, for California and this community to shine,” Newsom said earlier this month. “That’s why we’re already organizing a Marshall plan. We already have a team looking, reimagining LA 2.0, and we’re making sure everyone’s included.”
However, Trump did not seem eager to collaborate. Over the past weeks, he has continued to spread misinformation, such as the claim made during an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News that he might consider withholding aid from California unless the state agrees to “let water flow down.” This statement echoes a false narrative that Newsom and other officials were deliberately preventing water from reaching Los Angeles.
“Look, Gavin’s got one thing he can do,” Trump said according to the New York Times. “He can release the water that comes from the north. There is massive amounts of water. They’re releasing it into the Pacific Ocean.” He insisted that water from the Pacific Northwest was readily available but was instead being diverted into the ocean through a non-existent “valve”.
“Los Angeles has massive amounts of water available to it,” Trump claimed at a press conference. “All they have to do is turn the valve… coming from the Pacific Northwest, where millions of gallons of water… pours into California.” Following these remarks, Trump declared victory, claiming he had used “emergency powers” to “turn the water on” from the Pacific Northwest.
“The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly… The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
This assertion is entirely inaccurate. The military did not intervene, and there is no “valve” that can be simply “turned on” to access water from the Pacific Northwest to California. Such projects have been deemed logistically impossible and far too expensive. The California Department of Water Resources swiftly refuted Trump’s claims, clarifying that the military did not enter California and that the federal government merely restarted water pumps after maintenance.
“State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful,” the California Department of Water Resources stated on X. Furthermore, California issued a detailed fact-check of the Trump administration’s statements, asserting, “Fact: There is no spigot to magically make water appear at a wildfire, despite the administration’s false claims.” John Buse, general counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity, remarked, “It’s difficult to explain what he’s talking about because nobody knows what he’s talking about. The idea of a valve and water will just flow is preposterous.” Meanwhile, Miles Johnson, from the Columbia Riverkeeper, noted that Trump’s claims were “completely far-fetched and detached from reality.”
Clearly, Trump was spreading misinformation, and California was determined to counter it.
