Politicians, firefighters react to Pres. Trump's threat to withhold FEMA funding for California

WASHINGTON (KGO) -- President Donald Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning that he's ordered FEMA to cut funding to California to prevent wildfires.

The tweet read: "Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forrest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!"

Politicians, firefighters and others responded to what can be seen as a very aggressive action from the president.

Politicians:

• California Governor Gavin Newsom responded on Twitter, saying "The people of CA -- folks in Paradise -- should not be victims to partisan bickering."



• California Senator Kamala Harris tweeted: Californians endured the deadliest wildfire in our state's history last year. We should work together to mitigate these fires by combating climate change, not play politics by threatening to withhold money from survivors of a deadly natural disaster."



• Sen. Dianne Feinstein tweeted: "The Camp Fire killed 86 people, destroyed 14,000 homes & burned 150,000 acres. It's absolutely shocking for President Trump to suggest he would deny disaster assistance to the victims. This empty threat is based on groundless complaints, and candidly isn't worth the time of day."



• California Assemblyman James Gallagher and Sen. Jim Nielsen released a statement saying: "This Twitter war, however, is not helpful. It will not solve the problem. We can all agree that people's lives and livelihoods are at stake. There is no higher priority. That is why the President's threat to withhold FEMA funds from California is wholly unacceptable." See the full statement here.

Other officials:

• California Professional Firefighters tweeted: "President Trump's threat to cut off FEMA assistance to California is a deplorable attempt to play politics with the lives of tens of thousands of wildfire victims." You can see their full statement here.



• The Sierra Club tweeted: "OH NO, HOW WILL WE BUY RAKES TO CLEAN UP THE FORESTS?!"