Trump slammed for 'exploiting human tragedy' amid LA wildfire row - as niece labels president-elect a 'chaos agent'
14 January 2025, 19:52 | Updated: 14 January 2025, 20:31
Donald Trump’s niece has said her uncle “exploits human tragedy” for his own benefit, after the president-elect called for California Governor Gavin Newsom to resign over his handling of the recent wildfires.
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Trump accused Newsom of signing a “water restoration declaration” this week, claiming he prioritised environmental policies over public safety.
Newsom and other public officials and experts pushed back, with the Governor's office condemning Trump’s claim as “fiction”.
Speaking to Andrew Marr on LBC, Mary Trump said: “Donald thrives in division, he's a chaos agent, and he will use the most horrific tragedy or crisis of humanity to his benefit.
“He will exploit human tragedy to divide us against each other and weaken his perceived enemies.
“Gavin Newsom was just doing his job and minding his own business. It's Donald Trump who launched baseless attacks against the Governor and other officials in California and who has been threatening to make aid to California conditional, which is just absurd.
Trump 'uses human tragedy to his benefit', niece tells LBC, amid LA wildfire row
“Governor Newsom had to take time out of his day to respond and fact check the president elect.
She added: “We are seeing the wholesale abdication of the Republican party, who is going along with Donald's rhetoric here.
“I cannot think of a worse administration to be in charge when this country is suffering the kinds of natural disasters we are increasingly suffering.”
Read more: Under fire fraud minister Tulip Siddiq resigns amid corruption probe
At least 24 people have died in the fires, with 88,000 Californians still under evacuation orders.
Firefighters made progress over the weekend in containing the Palisades and Eaton fires but warn that the return of high winds - forecast until Wednesday - could see these two spread again, or fuel new ones.
The fires are already among the most destructive in LA's history when measured by the number of buildings destroyed.
Rebuilding work will cost "tens of billions" of dollars, US President Joe Biden has said.
