Newsom is brilliant, thinks on his feet, is forceful as well as compassionate; transcript below of "MUST SEE: Gavin Newsom SMACKS DOWN Trump & Elon Musk over fire lies" From Brian Tyler Cohen channel on YouTube. TRANSCRIPT below
ROUGH TRANSCRIPT**
I'm joined Now by Governor New thanks for joining me today it's good to be with you so we are at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank the we're going to talk about that in a few moments the people who are working here are doing God's work um delivering very much needed help to the people of Los Angeles who are impacted by these fires more broadly though the people of California need Federal help and so what will the federal aid that Biden release be able to do for us and do we have any worry more broadly that in a few days when Trump is sworn into office that he'll be able to intervene yeah so there were two on on the first part of your question two things President Biden did right away and I mean right away we got a major disaster declaration um within hours that's unprecedent in modern emergency history we got it over a text message I asked the president just on the immediate Disaster Response to move from a % reimbursement uh from FEMA uh to a % he said no uh I said gez Mr President he said no I'm going to do % uh he stepped up and he continues to including just a few hours ago with what they call the C to G grants it was the last major part when the C tog grants mean is playgrounds parks and schools and community centers getting that % reimbursed so significant support FEMA now is out there on the line doing $ uh debit cards just for incidentals groceries and those are those are immediate immediate that doesn't mean that all these people are getting a $ that's no but that's just immediate before you even get to the application to get up to $, go to disasterassistance.gov look all that said what you did frame is what happens next week what could happen into the future uh and that's to be determined we're trying to button everything up we possibly can including today quite literally a few minutes before I got here I saw an executive order allowing uh the US EPA to come in with their HazMat team so already phase one of the debris removal has begun and we're trying to now lock in phase which is the master debris removal contract and then get Federal support again all in anticipation of what could occur next week can I have your reaction to Mike Johnson speaker of the house um coming out in support of establishing the precedent of conditioning disaster relief and him doing it from from the state of Louisiana like thisy it's not like this guy's any stranger to to what would happen if we start playing politics With Disaster Relief so can I have your reaction to that um I I you know I hope looks in this heart um the pain and suffering the American people uh the trauma that everybody's experiencing uh in his country he's the speaker uh of the House of Representatives for the United States of America one nation under God indivisible uh liberty and justice for all not some who may have a political a point of view by the way I didn't ask anyone what their political affiliation was when we're down here uh working uh to try to protect people uh and the community from the ravages of these fires and these unprecedented winds but you know what nor did we ever ever never in California questioned whether or not we as taxpayers in the largest state in the Union should support the people Louisiana in a time of emergency and need we never conditioned it we never talked about putting the full fate in credit of the United States of America with the debt ceing bill so we can get tax cuts for billionaires and corporations that don't need it and then put it risk the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans that happen to live in California and this by the way is California as a donor State as arguably the biggest owner state in the country size of State populations combined a state with millions and millions of trump supporters speaker Johnson and Mr president-elect millions of your supporters are out here they need your help they need your empathy they need your care whatever compassion you can express as opposed to condemnation and divisive language that has aided and embedded nothing except Miss and disinformation that's flamed fear and flamed a lot of anxiety for folks that are simply trying to recover uh and at the same time our First Responders trying to address the emergency at hand which still hasn't been fully buttoned up as far as the disinformation efforts go we have seen that from Mike Johnson from Trump from others in the Republican Party how much of an impediment to your job is contending with thisinformation when you should be focused on more important things anything else other than that at first the mindset I'm putting my head down that's just noise and then I started realizing my head down I'm out in the community people are reflecting stuff that made no sense I said what why didn't you send us water there's no state water you why you care about the smell I said what are you talking about and I started to realize this misinformation is impacting people's lives is actually impacting their ability to trust and reason um and so we started to push back and yeah we've had to spend a lot of time putting a fact side up that every couple minutes we're just having to update I mean people there are there are people that have millions and millions of views that talk about the fact that somehow this was an intentional fire in order to get rid of tunnels because Donald Trump was going to prosecute everybody out here for pedophile rings and it got millions of views and there are actually people out there reasonable people God bless them that are misinformed and start to believe this crap and so we have to push back and look I never you to be in the middle of this to deal with hurricane Force wings that attached to a fire at the same time we're dealing with hurricane Force misinformation and intentional disinformation not just by the president of United States but guys like Elon Musk that will platform uh all this as well and forgive my language that's what it is to that point then I mean this is somebody who bought up Twitter to be able to have a bigger platform to reach most the majority of the people in this country and for example one of the things that he brought up was this idea that looting is decriminalized in California and so not only is that false information that people are going to that people are going to consume outright lie keep going not not only a lie but it also gives something of a permission structure for people who want to do it to then think oh well I heard from Elon Musk who has the biggest platform on on biggest voice on this platform that it's okay yeah so the asymmetry of that is off the charts in an emergency situation it's it's it's something that shouldn't happen uh that said back to just noise push back take some of that serious ly uh but the literal responsibility we have is the task at hand we have , firefighters as I speak working the line , Personnel National Guard trying to address the issue of looting CHP as we speak we have the EPA starting to do phase one and the Der removal we're doing individual Home Inspections and we're working through that in record time so we can get people back on their feet we're addressing the insurance crisis just met with all the CEOs around the insurance issues and we're addressing temporary housing we're addressing temporary food needs and emergency assistance uh and we want to give people hope that feel helpless and all of that is a deep distraction uh and it is what it is it's the world we're living in we can't deny it it's not what happens it's our response to what happens and our response is to focus on the mission at hand helping people in need well for posterity while I have you I do want to try to push back on some of that disinformation and give you the opportunity to to introduce some positive information into the Zeitgeist here so can you just give some of that accurate information as it relates to prioritizing smelt as it relates to this idea that there is a spigot that can be turned on from NorCal down to SoCal on this idea that there's not enough that there's not enough water here in Los Angeles well let's start with it well go backwards we have above average near record water stored in Southern California we have no spet that we can go and move as you I mean I I think he actually believes it yeah because I've been hearing this for six or seven years he talked about a non-existent act that somehow I literally made up there's not a human being that understands what he's talking about that right next to Michigan man of the year is yeah I mean and the smell what that has to do with the issues down here nothing it's nonsense uh this notion of forest management I have literally doubled the number of prescribed Burns in the last year , Acres we treated we x x the budget on an annual basis since I became governor of California it was million a year I took the million and we spent an additional . billion a week before this fire we announced an additional A billion for vegetation management and Forest management we have a memorandum of understanding with the US Forest Service that has % of the land California just % of the land we don't care about jurisdiction we care about partnership and we've Advanced unprecedented partnership doubled the size of our state fire force we increased by new helicopters the size of our our aerial Fleet which is a largest civilian air fleet in the world and we pre-positioned pre-positioned engines we met on Saturday before the Tuesday event we got folks down here at p.m. on Sunday we prepositioned engines we pulled them from Northern California in anticipation of this wind event water tenders helicopters hand Crews including the National Guard that were there within minutes of the fire I had the opportunity to be here within a few hours I intimately am aware of the Winds because we went up the canyon and we had to drive back immediately thrown back into the car Embers in the hair because we had hurricane force winds and these guys even with the finest water system in the history of mankind they were literally trying to push the Embers down to create evacuation quarters to keep people alive M hour winds the heroism of these folks I saw it sheriff's deputies police deputies paramedics the whole crew the mutual Aid System that was at hand and the mutual Aid System that's expanded from now States and two countries as well so I just have deep Pride for these guys thousand plus that were on the line fighting those fires and it did heroic work did the best they could possibly do look there is those Investments and all the preparation that was taken into account in in in the leadup to these fires actually exploding onto the scene but then obviously there is the the mass destruction that followed and so I know there are going to be folks who look at that and say well it wasn't enough because look at look at we're looking at , Acres burned and so what's your reaction to the disparity that's on display right now in terms of you know the the the the preparation and the investment that that California's made versus the the reality of the situation which is that there was so much destruction regardless yeah no I mean this was a we we we had what we call PDS we've had four of them um two in the last four years we've had four of them in the last three months uh and and these are unprecedented wind events or at least with little precedent wind events uh that are Beyond a Red Flag Warning mph winds uh with the driest conditions we've had since in Southern California structure to structure fires overwhelming everything unimaginable destruction and by the way it's also destruction that's devastatingly and tragically familiar with other major disasters we've seen in Maui we saw the campfire in Paradise California , structures people that lost their lives there um Mother Nature's Fury um wind and fires uh and unprecedented strains in a complex in a theater where we were at Peak Seven fires that we were active addressing around the same time I want to talk about insurance for a moment um in the last few years I think since about Californians have or , Californians have have lost access to to their insurance um insurers will no longer Ure the properties here in California so what can we do to prevent even more Californians from losing their insurance in in the aftermath of what we're seeing right now so there's are moratorium for a minimum of a year we're trying to get that extended but already locked down moratorium no one can have their their policies canceled for at least the next year that's the immediate number one number two I signed an executive order about months ago we went through a process with the insurance commissioner that is substantially improving and stabilizing the market don't take my word for it I'll give you a proof point and this one is ironic and tragic at the same time a week ago in Paradise California one of the major insurers said we are reentering the market because of the forms that have taken place in the last year in California their words not mine into Paradise as people repopulating that area point of optimism uh and kids were back in schools the market Farmers saying we're now going to stabilize and start writing policies again so we were finally moving in that direction obviously that's why I met with all the CEOs yesterday and the insurance commissioner uh and we're working uh to to do everything we can to hold the line with the existing policy holders focus on the renewals make sure there's no one that's dropped uh in the fire zone with the moratorium in hand and then look to stabilize that market by continuing to advance the reforms that are underway after the moratorium um I mean this is this is in a sense a Band-Aid because beyond that you know it's it's anybody's guess what's going to happen is there some incentive that's being put forward to prevent insurers from dropping folks right the day after the moratorium Live Well I wish I could show you my notes uh eight CEOs that we had active conversations two dozen that participated eight that particip all said the same thing the reforms that have taken place that are underway allow us more confidence of our ability not only to weather this loss but to address the longer medium and longer term uh uh challenges in California so we are on a pathway the challenges dealing situationally not just with the major insurers uh but also the fair plan which is not a state plan it's a Syndicate pool and the exposure there that's being determined in real time we'll have more clarity on that in just a couple of days look we've got the housing inspectors out there uh they're doing what they call these D DS teams that's the first step once the D process is over we get the Hazmat folks out there you get the insurance adjusters out there people will decide on the debris if they individually want to do all that themselves because they're insured um if they don't want to do it and they're insured FEMA through the process process that we'll announce very shortly uh we'll have a larger contract for the debris removal and then we've already waved all these sequer rules all the coastal act rules uh we have already fast-tracked the permitting on the rebuilds we're looking at all kinds of other temporary housing uh uh EOS that we're advancing price gouging which we're extending uh addressing the issue of price gou extending uh the the uh the prohibition against price gouging for renters uh and we have to now focus on enforcement uh in a lot of these categories after we established the new sets of rules and regulations so we're in Los Angeles the lifeblood of this city is the entertainment industry already the industry is on life support mean I can't tell you how many of my personal friends all all of my my whole circle of friends is all in the entertainment industry I can't tell you how many of them have had to go to not only different cities but different states or even different countries to be able to continue working in the industry that they are here to work in so already this is on life support so what's being done right now to kind of um bolster the industry at a time where very clearly the city needs it more than ever well I just announced just a month or so ago doubling the film tax credit million doubling it now uh getting ahead of New York and it was we thought a shot in the arm a lot of energy around that we're moving it in the budget it is in my budget uh we are working right now more situationally um uh got to give Netflix and others credit they reached out immediately to talk about about specific needs for folks within the industry uh and so we're targeting that from a situational perspective in terms of the emergency response but the sustainable framework is the significant Investments the state wants to make to stabilize our competitiveness Visa these tax credits and and what's your message to the the industry more broadly the studios and the networks in terms of keeping work here in California especially especially again given what's happened given how much the people of Los Angeles need it so we we we announced a couple days ago this Marshall Plan we've already organized a framework uh for an economic and Workforce Development strategy like of which we've never seen in this Region's history I already augmented our special session to get two and a half billion dollars uh of investments billion dollars of flexible Investments down here as quickly as possible down payment to help all of the above but as it relates to uh our larger effort around production this is the time this is the opportunity for those Studios to bring and bring back these Productions to reinvest in their home state uh and I think that is got to be a big part uh of this economic strategy this this larger Marshall Plan and that's an opportunity for this industry to help itself and to create a virtual cycle look we're going to come out of this smarter more flexible more creative across the Spectrum not just from an entertainment framework of creativity building designs building constructions Ingress egress uh vegetation Forest management more broadly defined Beyond and remember this is chaero and grass no large forests right there uh on the edge of Palisades most of that was uh more traditional chaero but we in terms of all of those approaches redundancy systems Life Safety Systems um all of that is all being collapsed in a a new Consciousness uh and integrated in a new relationship of mutuality between the city the county the state and we hope to your opening question the federal government so I know that a lot of the red tape is being cast aside in deference to getting this process moving quicker getting everything rebuilt quicker um with that said a lot of the problems stem from the fact that we didn't have an infrastructure that was able to withstand the reality the climate reality that we're living in right now so in addition to being able to wave some of the red tape is there also going to be some new rules put in place that would actually Harden our infrastructure uh in in anticipation of the next fire well it's exactly what needs to happen when I remember my mayor days we did the redundancy as it relates Investments are a major earthquake a major disaster related to earthquakes and providing that redundancy local governments you know you got counties you got hundreds and hundreds of cities I all these local governments need to take heed to these new realities the new extremes hot's getting hotter Dy is getting drier the atmospheric rivers and yes we have geologists and hydrologists on the scene right now in anticipation of mud flows uh which could be overwhelming uh if the rains come too soon uh and so we're trying to preposition sandbags that'll be part of the guard's work as well and a lot of the volunteers you see here will also be asked to do work in that respect so yes we have to be more climate res we've been preaching this forever yeah t no state does more in Investments at scale we just did a billion climate Bond uh which has resources to be more resourceful and resilient uh we lead in terms of our low carbon green growth strategies changing the way we produce and consume energy uh We've led the nation going back to R Reagan mindful as well that Donald Trump is going to try to vandalize those rules and regulations and uh and so we you know we're going to have to battle on multiple fronts again head down what's noise is noise what's real is real uh but we'll just focus on continuing to make progress but with the urgency uh of of what this moment represents and a recognition of what we're up against not just Donald Trump but Mother Nature herself well to that point the issue of climate has been conspicuously in most of the coverage of all of this and so what's your message more broadly in light of not only what we're seeing right now which is the worst fire that LA City has ever contended with but I mean this is happening at the same time that Texas is dealing with hurricanes that the Midwest is dealing with droughts that I mean look I lived in I lived in New Jersey when when Sandy hit as if we had any schema for what it looks like when a hurricane hits the state of New Jersey and and Lower Manhattan underwater and Soo more broadly speaking can you just speak on the importance of of of actually leaning in to the fight to combat climate change as opposed to moving away from yeah I mean I'll take it back to to no one in my passion in this space and the policies that we've been advancing in addressing the root cause which is the burning of coal natural gas and oil it's not complicated uh and that's why we've been very aggressive on fossil fuels and addressing uh issues related to the Miss and disinformation you want to talk about Miss and disinformation that has been coming for decades uh from the oil interests in the fossil fuel industry and that's why we initiated a lawsuit that's why we initiated two special sessions around price gouging in that space and advanced new oversight and transparency measures in California at the same time our nation leading C and trade program lowc carbon fuel standards program our unprecedented Investments as relates to equity and environmental justice in new technologies and carbon capture and direct air capture uh we've been advancing Investments that are next level on infrastructure more than quarter of all the new vehicles in California are electric uh vehicles or alternative fuel vehicles hybrids and so we want to maintain that leadership because that's how we dominate the future it's how we compete against China it's how we compete in a world that's moving in this direction uh we're going to obviously have setbacks as we've seen before with with the Trump Administration but we're going to try to persist and Prevail and uh again all of this at the same time and more at the same time uh stacking of stress but also stacking of a consciousness of op optimism and opportunity that this also provides change what we how we do pery for housing period we've been fighting this for decades enough it's the original sin in California on affordability and so there's I think a new Consciousness in the legislature that we're now at a point where I think we're going to see some of these temporary rules uh be established with no flexibility as more permanent rules uh where we can come out of this again like the the flag of San Francisco the Phoenix the Phoenix Rising come back stronger than we ever have and again I say that mindful that when I was standing there in the ashes with then president Donald Trump as governor-elect in Paradise California few people thought they would ever recover and people would ever repopulate and their Pro Point hardly full population return but it's making progress you see that progress demonstrably so and and that gives us I think optimism the tubs fire the recovery there optimism that you're going to see this community Thrive not just survive as long as we protect them from speculators people that are doing unsolicited offers I did an executive order there and if we see sort of and I don't mean to malign some of the Black Rock whatever it's not about that anyone that wants to organize a way to gut a community like Altadena which is a middle class disproportionately black and brown Community where generational wealth has been created from the s and s and s uh we're going to go after them and that's that's the mindset we have moving forward so we are in the Los Angeles Regional Food Kitchen right now talk about the significance of this place in light of what's happened well I mean diapers for kids diapers for seniors need to get prepared meals because people don't have stoves don't have access to their their their kitchen utensils uh to see these kids that's inspiring we created we have the largest volunteer Corps in the United States of America it's larger than the Peace Corp it's a point of real Pride I think the solution to so many of our problems uh it comes from service shared experiences and so we have climate core members in the spirit of the conversation quite literally that were reassigned and are now here at the food bank uh we have college core members $ hours $, grants it's the largest it's only uh College corat type in this country they're out here helping folks in need that's the spirit that defines I think the best of our state and our nation uh it's the spirit I hope that Donald Trump could bring to this tragedy uh not the one that he's brought uh to the first week of this experience and finally I know that there are a lot of people who are watching listening right now who want to know how they can best help what would you say to them I I just think the the most important thing you can do is if you want to contribute time do the kind of volunteer work that folks are doing here at the food banks and Red Cross Etc but if you want to contribute money uh the Latino Community Foundation will play a critical role in this context a lot of people mixed status families % of the state is Latino a lot of people here that are documented many that are not documented FEMA grants do not provide that support for people without documentation Latino Community Foundation provides a lot of that Gap funding the California Community Foundation and then the fire Foundation uh where we are directing a lot of our resources and uh that's just an extraordinary Organization no overhead on that and the money is very thoughtfully invested I think those are three great organizations where you can contribute a dollar two uh if you've got more that would be great as way well I'll put the links to all of those uh organizations in the show notes of this episode and the post description of this episode Governor n thanks for taking the time thank you for being out particularly being here at the food bank and and highlighting the incredible work that's being done out there English (auto-generated) Donate now
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At age 76 my hands won't let me go in and put punctuation and grammar fixes in this transcript but it's here for readers to scan and search for words.
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