Governor Gavin Newsom faced criticism for his exaggerated body language during an interview on NBC’s Meet The Press regarding his handling of the wildfires in Los Angeles.
During the interview, Newsom wore an untucked black button-down shirt paired with jeans and gestured emphatically throughout the 18-minute conversation held in Altadena, an area affected by the Eaton Fire. His gestures included clapping and other dramatic movements while responding to questions.
Newsom expressed bewilderment over the fact that all three water storage tanks in Pacific Palisades—with a capacity of around 1 million gallons each—had mysteriously emptied at the onset of the wildfires last week.
‘Was it pipes? Was it electricity? It was a combination of pipes, electricities, and pumps,’ Newsom told NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff as he rocked back and forth and threw up his hands. ‘Was that drawdown impossible because you lost seven-plus thousand structures right here anyway and every single structure we lost had a pipe that was leaking, and we would’ve lost that water pressure anyway?’
‘Did it contribute in any way to our inability to fight the fire? Or were 99 mile-an-hour winds determinative and there was really no firefight that could’ve been more meaningful?’
One person reacting to the interview on X picked up on the governor’s restless movements and said: ‘Who the hell is he dancing with?’
Another said: ‘Watching Gavin Newsome (sic) his body language and speech suggests he is overwhelmed.’
‘At the beginning of his interview, the first thing he does is start waving his fingers,’ a third pointed out.
‘His physical gestures are over the top and distracting,’ another watcher thought.
One person shifted their anger to Soboroff, the interviewer, and claimed he wasn’t pushing Newsom hard enough.
‘If you had an ounce of integrity or shame @jacobsoboroff, you’d resign for this obsequious joke of an interview & give your job to the woman who cornered Newsom in the street with real Qs after her community burned down,’ they wrote.
The interview covered topics such as Newsom’s culpability in the crisis, President-elect Donald Trump’s criticisms of the state’s wildfire response and new executive orders the governor is pursuing to provide relief to Californians.
Newsom denied he was playing the blame game by opening an independent investigation into why the reservoirs were empty.
‘How could it be when we’re doing an independent investigation and we just want the adjudication of the facts? As I say, it’s not about finger pointing. It’s about answering the questions you and everybody want answered,’ he said.
‘The same ones you’re asking. Same ones that people out on the streets are asking, yelling about, “What the hell happened? What happened to the water system?”‘
As of Sunday morning, the Palisades Wildfire, west of downtown Los Angeles, has grown to about 23,654 acres with containment at 11 percent.
The blaze leveled homes, businesses and structures in the Pacific Palisades right across to the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu. It is believed five people have died as a result of this fire.
The Eaton Fire, which broke out Tuesday northeast of Los Angeles, currently spans 14,005 acres with containment at 15 percent. It has been estimated that this fire has destroyed 7,000 structures and is responsible for the deaths of 8 people.
In total, 16 people have lost their lives and more than 12,000 structures have burnt to the ground.
Newsom put the death toll at a more conservative 13 and said his office is still getting information from coroners, adding ‘I’ve got search and rescue teams out.’
‘And there’s likely to be a lot more.’
When asked if the buck stops with him, Newsom replied: ‘I mean, you’re governor of California. It might as well be the mayor of California. We’re all in this together. We’re all better off when we’re all better off.
‘And we’re here not just in the immediacy of the crisis, but we’re here after the crisis, as opposed to creating a crisis in the middle of this by trying to divide people and play political, take cheap political shots.’
The conversation soon shifted to President-elect Donald Trump, who has blamed Newsom for the wildfires.
Trump said that the governor, who he referred to as ‘Gavin Newscum’ – a favorite of the Republican’s pet names – refused to accept preemptive help from the federal government back when he was president.
‘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,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump also argued that Newsom’s efforts to protect a fish called the Delta smelt has stopped water from being delivered to farmers and major cities.
‘I don’t know what he’s referring to when he talks about the Delta smelt in reservoirs. The reservoirs are completely full, the state reservoirs here in Southern California,’ Newsom said.
However, DailyMail.com revealed that a reservoir that served the Palisades area was left disconnected by Department of Water and Power (LADWP) CEO Janisse Quiñones.
On top of that, fire hydrants usually fed by that water source, the Santa Ynez Reservoir, were broken for months before the fires, leading to firefighters running out of water as they battled the devastating blazes.
The reservoir was also taken offline in recent months to repair a tear in its cover that exposed the water and potentially impacted its drinkability.
The shutdown, which left the 117-million-gallon water storage complex completely empty, was first reported by the LA Times on Friday morning.
When confronted about this, Newsom said it ‘was not a state system reservoir.’
To address the damage caused to people’s homes and buildings around the city, Newsom announced he’d be issuing executive orders on ‘price gouging’ and ‘recovery.’
He also said the executive orders will help people get their insurance claims ‘within the next few weeks.’
When it comes to rebuilding, Newsom signaled he’d be relaxing the rigid environmental review processes that often make development difficult in California.
‘We want to fast-track by eliminating any [California Environmental Quality Act] requirements. I’ve got Coastal Act changes that we’re making. I want to make sure when someone rebuilds that they have their old property tax assessments and that they’re not increased,’ he said.
Newsom also thanked President Joe Biden for pledging to cover 100 percent of disaster related costs in California for the next 180 days. Early estimates suggest damages could cost as much as $150 billion.
‘We had support from the President of the United States, Joe Biden, with 100% reimbursement, all the resources you could hope for, imagine, constant communication. I’d like to extend that to the president-elect,’ he said.
