LOS ANGELES () — California Governor Gavin Newsom spent Thursday in Pacific Palisades and Altadena meeting with fire victims, those helping in the rebuild, reflecting on the lives lost, and surveying the progress that’s been made.
“2,193 permits have been approved as of last week,” said Newsom. “I’ll put that in perspective. Maui lost about 2,200 homes. Two years later, they had 465 homes permitted. I’ve mentioned Paradise. It was 385 after a full year so there’s real progress here. But, that’s progress in the aggregate. But, nobody lives in the aggregate. So, someone at home is watching right now, shaking their head because they may have had a stubborn and frustrating experience, and that’s what we have to address. Twenty-seven executive orders I’ve signed. if I need to sign another 27 I’ll do it.”
Newsom says Washington partisan politics have no role in federal disaster aid, or in Artificial Intelligence. On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order that prevents states from enforcing their own AI regulations.
“We also are the one’s leading the nation in a regulatory pathway and that regulatory pathway led to the nation’s first AI frontier model regulation,SB53, that we signed last year. We think that’s a model for the country. Donald Trump doesn’t believe in any regulation. We think he’s wrong and we think state’s have the right to regulate companies and it would be a huge mistake if he were successful in this effort. We’re going to make sure he’s not. We think it’s patently illegal for him to sign an executive order denying state’s rights,” said Newsom.
Eyewitness News asked the Governor about his former Chief of Staff Dana Williamson facing federal charges.
“As it relates to any independent investigation, the last thing anybody needs to do in positions like mine, if I’m going to criticize Trump for getting involved in those things, I’m going to be careful and say let those independent facts flow,” said Newsom.
Williamson has pleaded not guilty to all 23 counts. Newsom’s office put Williamson on leave over a year ago when they learned that she was under criminal investigation. She left the Governor’s Office one month’s after that.
FULL INTERVIEW: Eyewitness News got an exclusive interview with Gov. Gavin Newsom as he visited the Southland for an update on recovery efforts.
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