A woman from the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles has offered to “fill up the hydrants myself” as she confronted state governor Gavin Newsom over his response to the disaster.
Rachel Darvish, a lawyer who has lived in the Palisades all her life, was forced to flee her home along with many thousands of others because of the devastating flames.
She was speaking to Sky correspondent Martha Kelner when she saw Mr Newsom in the street and rushed up to his vehicle.
Shouting to him that her daughter’s school had been destroyed in the fires, she demanded to know “what you’re going to do”.
Holding up his phone, he told her he was “literally talking to the president [Joe Biden] right now to specifically answer the question of what we can do for you and your daughter”, adding he had tried “five times” but couldn’t get through.
Authorities have been criticised for an alleged sluggish response to the catastrophe, including from Hollywood celebrities whose homes have been damaged.
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Ms Darvish, whose own home survived the fires, but who has many neighbours whose properties had burned to the ground, said she didn’t believe him and demanded to watch him make the call.
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Aerial views reveal LA destruction
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‘Every single house burned to the ground’
He repeated that he was calling “to immediately get reimbursements, individual assistance and to help”, adding that he was “devastated for you… especially for your daughter”.
Ms Darvish then asked him why there was “no water in the hydrants?”. She said she “would fill up the hydrants myself”, before asking him if it was going be different “next time?”.
He replied: “It has to be. Of course,” adding that he was calling the president “to address everything I can right now, including making sure people like you are safe”.
Soon afterwards, he got in his car and drives off.
Five people have died in the series of wildfires, driven by ferocious winds, that have raged through the Los Angeles area, ravaging communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena, forcing more than 179,000 people to leave their homes.
The blazes have burned across more than 17,000 acres in Pacific Palisades, where the fires are 0% contained, according to the Fire Department’s latest update.
More than 10,000 acres are ablaze across the fires – named Eaton, Hurst, Lidia and Sunset.
Donald Trump says a meeting is being set up between himself and Vladimir Putin – and that he and Barack Obama “probably” like each other.
Republican US president-elect Mr Trump spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, saying Russian president Mr Putin “wants to meet, and we are setting it up”.
“He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” Mr Trump said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday there was a “mutual desire” to set up a meeting – but added no details had been confirmed yet and that there may be progress once Mr Trump is inaugurated on 20 January.
“Moscow has repeatedly declared its openness to contacts with international leaders, including the US president, including Donald Trump,” Mr Peskov added.
“What is required is a mutual desire and political will to conduct dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue. We see that Mr Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue. We welcome this. There are still no specifics, we proceed from the mutual readiness for the meeting.”
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Trump on Obama: ‘We just got along’
Mr Trump also made some lighter remarks regarding a viral exchange between himself and former Democrat President Barack Obamaat Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday.
The pairsat together for the late president’s service in Washington DC on Thursday, and could be seen speaking for several minutes as the remaining mourners filed in before it began.
Mr Obama was seen nodding as his successor spoke before breaking into a grin.
Asked about the exchange, Mr Trump said: “I didn’t realise how friendly it looked.
“I said, ‘boy, they look like two people that like each other’. And we probably do.
“We have a little different philosophies, right? But we probably do. I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody.”
The amicable exchange comes after years of criticising each other in the public eye; it was Mr Trump who spread the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory about Mr Obama in 2011, falsely asserting that he was not born in the United States.
Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked the Obamas, saying the former president was “ineffective” and “terrible” and calling former first lady Michelle Obama “nasty” as recently as October last year.
On Kamala Harris’s campaign trail last year, Mr Obama said Mr Trump was a “78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago”, while the former first lady said that “the consequences of him ever being president again are brutally serious.”
The US Supreme Court has rejected a last-ditch attempt by Donald Trump to delay sentencing in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
The president-elect was convicted on 34 counts last May in New York of falsifying business records relating to payments made to Ms Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors claimed he had paid her $130,000 (£105,300) in hush money to not reveal details of what Ms Daniels said was a sexual relationship in 2006.
Mr Trump has denied any liaison with Ms Daniels or any wrongdoing.
By a majority, the Supreme Court found his sentencing would not be an insurmountable burden during the presidential transition since the presiding judge, Juan M Merchan, has indicated he will not give Mr Trump jail time, fines or probation.
Mr Trump’s attorneys argued that evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated last summer’s Supreme Court ruling giving Mr Trump broad immunity from prosecution over acts he took as president.
At the least, they said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals play out to avoid distracting Mr Trump during the presidential transition.
Mr Trump’s attorneys went to the justices after New York courts refused to postpone sentencing.
Judges in New York found that the convictions related to personal matters rather than Mr Trump’s official acts as president.
Mr Trump’s attorneys called the case politically motivated, and they said sentencing him now would be a “grave injustice” that threatens to disrupt the presidential transition as the Republican prepares to return to the White House.
Mr Trump has said he will appeal again: “I respect the court’s opinion – I think it was actually a very good opinion for us because you saw what they said, but they invited the appeal and the appeal is on the bigger issue. So, we’ll see how it works out,” he said at a dinner with Republican governors at his private club in Florida.
Because the New York case was a state, rather than federal crime, Mr Trump will not be able to pardon himself when he takes office on 20 January.