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A reporter confronted the Democratic spokesman of California assembly on whether lawmakers should focus on allocating legal funds to the “Trump-proof” Golden State while wildfires in the Los Angeles region are still burning.
“Now is the right time to have a special legislative session on the appropriation of money fight Trump in a way that you could already do without a special legislative session?” California correspondent Ashley Zavala asked Speaker Robert Rivas on Thursday.
“I am here to address… these forest fires,” Rivas answered. “This is a historic wildfire. This is, this is a historic event. These wildfires, as I mentioned, will be, quite possibly, some of the worst wildfires and disasters in state and national history.”
NEWSOM PROPOSES $25M FROM STATE LEGISLATURE IN CALIFORNIA ‘TRUMP-PROOF’
Reporter asks California Democratic Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (Credit KCRA 3) (KCRA 3)
Zavala responded, saying “meanwhile a forest fire is happeningand while people are trying to understand what’s going on and worried about disaster relief, worried about getting homeowner’s insurance, your chamber went into a special legislative session to prepare for Donald Trump in a way you already can. without a special legislative session. So, again, is now the right time for it?”
Again, Rivas focused his response to focus on wildfire recovery, but did not directly answer Zavala’s query.
“So certainly our focus right now, as the spokesperson, Ashley, right now, my colleagues and I, we’re acting with great urgency, great urgency, to make sure that we’re providing some much-needed relief to Angelenos, to make sure we understand what it will take for this region to recover and support those most affected by this disaster,” Rivas said. “And you know it’s … the response from our first responders has been unprecedented, and they’re doing everything they can to control and contain, again, these multiple fires and doing everything they can to make sure they’re keeping people safe now . . , and again in anticipation and preparation for recovery, and as a state, we will, as a legislature, do everything we can to support that recovery.”
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Shortly after the election victory of President-elect Donald Trump, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a special legislative session to bolster the state’s legal fund in case of attacks by the Trump administration. Trump responded to Newsom after the announcement, saying, “He’s using the term ‘Trump-proof’ as a way to stop all the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again,'” but I just won the election in a landslide,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
Between 2017 and 2021, the California Department of Justice led 122 lawsuits against Trump administration policies, spending $42 million on litigation. Newsom’s office said in one case that the federal government was ordered to reimburse California for nearly $60 million in public safety grants.
While California filed more than 100 lawsuits against the Trump administration, President-elect Donald Trump filed only four major lawsuits against the state. In 2018, Trump’s DOJ filed suit over three California state sanctuary laws that restricted cooperation with federal immigration control. That same year, Trump sued California over its statewide net neutrality law.
Wind whips embers as a firefighter battles a blaze in the Angeles National Forest near Mount Wilson as wildfires burn in the Los Angeles area during the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California on 9 of January 2025. (REUTERS/Ringo Chiu)
In 2019, Trump also filed a lawsuit against California’s vehicle emissions standards, seeking to revoke California’s ability to set its own emissions rules. The Trump administration California also sued on his controversial independent contractor bill, AB 5, in 2020.
California, a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants, abortion procedures and transgender transition treatments for children, could be targeted by the Trump administration, especially given Trump’s mass deportation plan for illegal immigrants.
Newsom previously said the Golden State “is a pillar of the country … protecting and investing in rights and freedoms for all people” and that officials “will work with the incoming administration and we want President Trump to succeed in the service of all Americans.”
“But when there is overreach, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action,” Newsom said. “And that’s exactly what this special session is about: setting that state up for success, no matter who’s in the White House.”
