House Speaker Mike Johnson, who managed to hold onto his job during a close vote last week, says that any federal aid to parts of California ravaged by wildfires should come with “conditions.”
CNN’s Manu Raju caught up with Johnson (R-LA) in the halls of Congress Monday and asked, “Are you open to providing aid to California without any conditions at all?”Johnson answered, “I think we’ve got to have a serious conversation about that. Obviously, there’s been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes, all sorts of problems. And it does come down to leadership. And it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects, so that’s something that has to be factored in. “I think there should probably be conditions on that aid. That’s my personal view, we’ll see what the consensus is. I haven’t had a chance to socialize that with any of the members over the weekend. We’ve all been very busy, but it will be part of the discussion, for sure.”ALSO READ: Fox News has blood on its hands as Trump twists the knifePresident-elect Donald Trump, who supported Johnson’s re-election as speaker, has been harshly critical of California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.Trump posted to TruthSocial Sunday, “The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out. Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?”Politico reported Monday, “A group of House Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump talked about tying wildfire aid to a debt ceiling increase Sunday night, as the fires spreading across huge swaths of Los Angeles are estimated to become one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.” Johnson was not at the Mar-a-Lago dinner where the topic was discussed.At least 24 people have reportedly died in the wildfires around Los Angeles that have “over the past week burned an area the size of Washington.”Watch the clip below via CNN.