Gavin Newsom met with Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, as the California governor seeks federal disaster aid for the Los Angeles communities devastated by recent wildfires.
The Oval Office meeting, less than two weeks after the president pledged, during a visit to survey the damage in Los Angeles, to help the city rebuild, underscores the political tightrope Newsom must walk to secure desperately needed assistance for his state at a moment when his party – and many of his constituents – are demanding their leaders take a stronger stand against the new administration.
The meeting, which went on for some length, concluded on Wednesday evening and neither the Democratic governor nor the Republican president spoke to reporters after.
“Governor Newsom had a very productive meeting with President Trump at the White House to further discuss the critical need for unconditional disaster aid for survivors,” Newsom’s office said in a statement.
The White House did not provide further details about their conversation.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to withhold federal disaster aid from California unless its Democratic leaders change their approach to water management – a long-running gripe of Trump’s, but a change experts say would not have mitigated the scale of the devastation or improved the response.
Trump and his allies have also floated other possible conditions related to voter identification laws and immigration enforcement. Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, has expressed an openness to conditioning the aid, which Democrats have condemned as unprecedented and cruel.
Newsom is among the first high-profile Democrats to visit the White House since Trump took office. The day before his arrival, dozens of congressional Democrats joined a protest outside the treasury department in which they denounced Trump as a “dictator” and called on Democrats to grind action in the Senate to a halt.
Newsom took a different approach during his visit to the country’s capitol.
“We’re working across the aisle, as we always have, to ensure survivors have the resources and support they need,” Newsom said in a statement. “Thank you President Trump for coming to our communities to see this firsthand and meeting with me today to continue our joint efforts to support people impacted.”
According to the governor’s office, Newsom held a series of bipartisan meetings on Capitol Hill, including with California Republican congressmen Ken Calvert and Doug LaMalfa, Democratic congresswoman Judy Chu, who represents a district impacted by the fires, and both of the state’s Democratic senators, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff. Newsom was scheduled to be back on Thursday for additional meetings.
Before Trump’s meeting with the governor, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was “very inspired by the frustration of the residents” he met in Pacific Palisades last month and would continue to apply “tremendous pressure” to Democratic officials in California to ensure homeowners can access their properties.
“The president is willing to work with anybody from blue states or red states to do what’s best for the American people,” she said during Wednesday’s White House press briefing.
Newsom has become an increasingly prominent national voice among Democrats. He took up high-profile arguments with the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis; was among the most prominent surrogates for Joe Biden; and campaigned for Kamala Harris during her 2024 presidential run. After Trump’s victory, Newsom called for a special legislative session to bolster the state’s legal defenses in preparation for disputes with the new administration over climate policy, immigration, LGBTQ+ rights and abortion access.
Trump in turn adopted the nickname “Newscum” for the governor, and blamed California’s Democratic leaders for the devastation from the wind-fueled blazes that killed more than 29 people and turned entire neighborhoods in the country’s most populous county to ash.
Since the fires spread last month, however, Newsom has been less vocal in his criticism of the president, even as his party grows increasingly alarmed by the Trump administration’s moves to overhaul the federal government.
Newsom invited Trump to visit the damage at the same time as setting up a website to counter many of the president’s false claims about the fires.
The White House did not coordinate Trump’s visit to Los Angeles with the governor’s office. But Newsom met Trump on the tarmac, embraced him and thanked the president for coming. Since the visit, the president has been less critical of Newsom, even joking publicly that he was choosing not to refer to the governor by his crass nickname.
Trump’s flurry of actions have included California. Last week, Trump signed an executive order directing the army corps of engineers to open two dams in California, letting more than 2bn gallons of water flow out of reservoirs in a move local officials said nearly flooded farms. Though Trump has celebrated the release, experts said the water will not flow to Los Angeles and could reduce the availability of water supplies in the event of a dry summer.
On Monday, the California state legislature approved $25m to build up the state’s legal defense against the Trump administration and another $25m to support legal services for immigrants vulnerable to the president’s crackdown.
Like all their interactions, the meeting in Washington will be closely observed for its implications for the governor’s political future. Newsom’s term ends in 2026 and he cannot seek a third term. He has long been considered a possible contender for president in 2028.
