Trump says he will 'probably' visit California to view wildfire damage; talks deportations
WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump told NBC News that he will likely visit California next week after his inauguration to view the devastation caused by wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area that have left at least 27 people dead and thousands displaced.
"I will be, probably, at the end of the week," Trump told NBC News' Kristen Welker in a phone interview on Saturday.
“I was going to go, actually yesterday,” he added, “but I thought it would be better if I went as president. It’s a little bit more appropriate, I suspect.”
Trump also told NBC News that other items on his agenda include mass deportations of undocumented immigrations, which he said would begin "very early, very quickly," and possibly giving TikTok a 90-day reprieve from a ban set to take effect on Sunday.
Trump’s remarks come after Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom had penned a letter to the incoming president on Jan. 10 asking him to come to the state and meet with the victims affected by the fires. The two have had a tense relationship, with Trump blaming Newsom for the wildfires on Truth Social.
Trump, as well as some Republican lawmakers, have also called for conditions to be placed on federal aid that goes to California.
But Newsom urged Trump in a press briefing last week not to “play any politics” regarding wildfire response. He also dismissed Trump’s Truth Social posts attacking him in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press" last week. “Responding to Donald Trump’s insults, we would spend another month,” he said. "I'm very familiar with them."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says he will 'probably' visit California to view wildfire damage