LA County Supervisor Asks Trump to Tour Fire Damage in Heartfelt Letter: ‘Your Presence Would Be Deeply Felt’

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger sent a letter urging President-elect Donald Trump to tour the devastation of this week’s wildfires on Saturday.

Barger, one of the county’s few elected Republicans, said in a letter she posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Trump’s presence in Southern California would be “deeply felt and appreciated.”

Amid a fifth consecutive day of fires in her county, Barger posted a two-page letter addressed to Trump in his capacity as president-elect.

“I’ve sent a letter to President-Elect @realDonaldTrump inviting him to engage in wildfire recovery efforts and to visit the County to see the impact firsthand,” she commented. “The White House’s engagement allows for the rapid deployment of federal resources, including emergency personnel and financial assistance.”

Barger’s full letter reads:

The Honorable Donald J. Trump
President-Elect of the United States
Mar-a-Lago Club
1100 South Ocean Boulevard
Palm Beach, Florida 33480

Dear Mr. President-Elect: Beginning Tuesday, January 7, hurricane force windstorms and a multitude of catastrophic, deadly fires have devastated the people of Los Angeles County. The Eaton, Palisades, Hurst, Creek, Lidia and Kenneth Fires have burnt over 35,000 acres, destroying tens of thousands of residences and businesses. Hundreds of thousands of County residents have been either displaced or rendered completely homeless; more tragically, the fires and winds have killed 11 people and we anticipate when the loss of human life is fully understood, that number will grow. The fires remain uncontained, and we are battling them with all the resources and manpower at our disposal.

As our President, in November 2018, you and your Administration took quick and decisive action when Los Angeles County was impacted by another catastrophic event, the Woolsey Fire, which devastated Malibu and its surrounding communities. Under your leadership, your White House issued Major Disaster and Emergency Declarations, allowing for the rapid deployment of federal resources including emergency personnel and financial assistance. You also personally visited our impacted communities, seeing the devastation firsthand.

In my role as Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the people of Los Angeles County extend our formal invitation for you to come again to Los Angeles County and jointly tour the areas of devastation caused by this week’s disasters. By accepting this invitation, Mr. President-Elect, you will join us in supporting our citizenry and thanking our heroic first responders, who have risked their own lives to save others. We would also ask you, as our President, to stand with the people of Los Angeles County as we set our course to rebuild. Your presence would be deeply felt and appreciated.

The communities of Altadena, Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Santa Monica and surrounding areas have been forever changed by what has happened. Teachers, nurses, small business owners, firefighters, law enforcement, blue-collar workers, faith leaders, entrepreneurs, and families have lost their homes, their churches and synagogues, their livelihoods – and some, their loved ones.

Notwithstanding these losses, our people will stand together to rebuild. Our people are hard working, resilient, and committed to restore their communities. We would be greatly encouraged, and our success enhanced, if you came to Los Angeles to stand with us, as you have in the past, as our President. We look forward to working with your Administration to meet the challenge of rebuilding and renewal over the coming years.

We remember well your previous considerable commitment to Los Angeles County in one of our darkest moments and hope you will accept this invitation to stand with our people again as our President.

Sincerely,
Kathryn Barger

Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom also wrote a letter to Trump Friday in which he asked the president-elect to visit California.

Newsom said he would welcome Trump with “respect and an open hand.”