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Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted President Donald Trump for spreading “misinformation” about water shortages during the California wildfires nearly a year after the disaster.
“It was hurricane force bulls— coming from Trump’s weaponized lies [and] disinformation, amplified by Elon Musk,” Newsom told MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff in an interview posted to YouTube Monday.
The California Democrat’s remark came in response to a question referencing an X livestream last January in which Elon Musk asked firefighters whether water had run out in the Palisades but not in Malibu.
“My understanding — correct me if I’m wrong — in Malibu, along the coast, there was no shortage of water. In the Palisades, there was a shortage of water at some point, or is that not accurate?” Musk asked the fire command team.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during the 2025 New York Times Dealbook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Dec. 3, 2025, in New York City; President Donald Trump announced the creation of the “Trump-class” battleship during a statement to the media at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
“We were flowing an amount of water that the system couldn’t [handle] … it was overbearing just because of how much water these firefighters were utilizing,” an official replied.
Musk ended the stream shortly after.
Newsom shared the exchange in his own X post at the time, saying Musk was “exposed by firefighters.”
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Vehicles pass through smoke from the Lilac Fire in Bonsall, Calif., in Jan. 2025. (AP/Jae C. Hong)
At the time of the fires, Trump, Musk and many of their allies were repeatedly critical of California policies and officials’ — especially Newsom’s — handling of the crisis.
Musk, for instance, also wrote in an X post: “Climate change risk is real, just much slower than alarmists claim. The immense loss of homes in LA is primarily due to: 1. Nonsensical overregulation that prevented creating fire breaks and doing brush clearing. 2. Bad governance at the state and local level that resulted in a shortage of water.”
NEWSOM CALLS TRUMP’S CLAIMS ‘PURE FICTION’ AFTER PRESIDENT-ELECT POINTS FINGER OVER CALIFORNIA FIRE TRAGEDY
Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023, in Paris, France. (Chesnot/Getty Images)
Trump, who was president-elect at the time, alleged in a Truth Social post that water shortages were largely due to Newsom’s failure to “sign the water restoration declaration” 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.”
Trump’s remarks prompted Newsom’s office to fire back, insisting that the alleged declaration was “pure fiction.”
“For the first time in history, we have a president that is promoting [misinformation] in the middle of these disasters, in the middle of emergencies where lives are quite literally on the line, and people are buying the bulls—, hook-line and sinker,” Newsom told Soboroff, reflecting on how many people believed Trump’s claims.
The White House did not immediately respond to Digital’s request for comment.
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‘ Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
