Transcript of Mike Johnson suggests wildfire aid for California could come with strings attached

President Biden was briefed today on the California Wildfires, a briefing that included details from the head of FEMA on how displaced residents are going to get money for hotel stays or essentials like gas and baby formula. That comes as some Republicans say that they do now believe any new aid to Californians should come with conditions attached, including the speaker of the House.

There has been water resource mismanagement, force management, mistakes, all sorts of problem. 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.

My Republican source tonight is the Iowa congressman, Zack Nunn. Do you agree with Speaker Johnson that conditions should be attached to the new aid to California?

Well, I think, first of all, we need to recognize that there are dozens of people dead. There are going to be more who are found here. There are We have thousands of homes that have been utterly destroyed, and we have a state that is reeling right now. I think it's a fair question to also say, how can we get the best aid there? I'm from a small farm state. When we get decimated by tornadoes, we expect that the rest of the country is going to come to our assistance. I believe firmly in talking with the speaker tonight that this is where we want to be as a nation. I also recognize that there are challenges. We have a California situation where state and local leaders, as was highlighted, have been derelict in their responsibility. I think we can do two things first and foremost. Look, I'm a military guy. We need to have a plan to be able to help the immediate challenge going on right now, and that means getting the immediate resources both at the local, state, and federal level to help these families who are hurting. But we also need to be asking, we don't want to continue to pay hundreds of billions of dollars to a situation that finds itself consistently in a challenge to be able to do forest management, water management.

We just heard right now the leadership in LA is looking at making LA into a sanctuary city in violation of federal law, but they expect that federal government is going to come and help bail them out when they're openly flaunting their responsibilities. There needs to be a clear conversation on this. We also need to recognize this has got to be a bipartisan solution. If it's going to move forward and we're going to be able to get this aid, it means Republicans and Democrats are going to have to work together. We've got 15 Democrats in Trump-1 districts. They need to come to the conversation as well for solutions.

But you're not saying that single-handedly it was the Democratic elected leader's responsibility for this fire. We're going to speak to the fire chief in Orange County in a minute who said this was unstoppable.

This is a force of nature. These were fires that were just not something they've ever seen. But I also want to highlight here, as we heard from our own fire chief here in LA, there's a situation right now where they felt like they were chronically underfunded. They didn't get the training and the resources they needed. They don't want to be political about this, but they felt like they were left in lurch. I think this is tragic when we have a situation where we're pulling in 900 conscripted prisoners to help fight a fire in a situation which is truly, historically massive in magnitude. But we also have a state which has just fallen flat, and it's responsible because this is not the first time this has happened. We've seen other states, I was a keen example of this, where we know we're going to have tornadoes. We put a billion dollars into a rainy day fund. So when these emergencies strike, we're ready to respond.

Yeah, but I think what the concern that we've heard from Democrats who say is you're creating a really bad precedent here because aid typically doesn't have conditions on it. I mean, North Carolina didn't have conditions when we saw how devastating that was for people who live there who say, this is a slippery the Republicans are going down where, I mean, you can be in a disaster prone state like Louisiana, where Mike Johnson is from or like Florida or even Iowa, and something happens. And then how would you feel if Democrats were saying, well, actually, we don't like how your Republican governor is handling that, so we're going to put conditions on that.

Caitlin, I gently push back on that and say that there have been conditions placed on aid before, particularly when it comes to emergency aid. Look, we've got a $36 trillion national debt, and the inability for the insurance commissioners in California to be able to keep insurance companies in in the state are a real management issue. It's a challenge. Equally important, if we're going to put hundreds of billions of dollars into helping families recover, I want to make sure they're not going to face the exact same crisis two years from now because California has failed to take action on things they should have been taking action on decades ago.

Okay, but so for example, if Mike Johnson moves ahead with this idea that's been floating around of tying the debt ceiling to wildfire 8, could you argue that's anything but political?

Well, we haven't even gotten to this point yet, so I won't even speculate on what the future of the debt ceiling is going to look like.

What would you support that?

I think I want to support getting assistance on the ground right now. Look, again, curl in the Iowa National Guard and the military beforehand, there's needs that can be met right now. We should be prioritizing focus on that. What we don't need is more of, tragically What Governor Newsom has already done is to say, Hey, send me your aid, but make sure it goes through my Act Blue account so that I can collect your information and use it in my upcoming election. That's the real politicalization that's going on right now in California. We've seen the same come out of Elizabeth Warren. Is it helpful being into that.

Is it helpful when Trump attacks a sitting governor as these fires are still raging in California?

I think he's talked about already going out there and seeing this. What I want to see is that both sides de-politicize, and it starts with the governor. He's the commander on the ground. He needs to take responsibility for this. I'd ask him, take this act, blue money, and give it directly to the people who are in need. Don't take 4% off the top.

Congressmen, thank you for your time tonight.I appreciate, Kaylee.Joyne, it's here on set. My political sources are also here. Kate Beddingfield, former Biden Whitehouse communications director, and Sarah Matthews, former Deputy Press Secretary for President Trump when he was in the White House the last time. Sarah, this is not a position that is only held by some Republicans. In the House, we're seeing Senate Republicans like Tommy Tuberville from my home state also expressing support for this. You worked in the White House when Trump was in office last time and disasters like this hit. What is your view of this demand that is percolating?

I think although you're going to see some Republicans who agree with this sentiment, we've also seen some come out of the Senate who have pushed back on this, particularly from states who understand the importance of disaster relief and it being non-partisan. Rick Scott from Florida has already said he doesn't agree with this. Senator Tillis from North Carolina, as you mentioned, they faced flooding there last year. He pushed back on that. They understand that this needs to stay non-partisan. It's a slippery slope, sets a really dangerous precedent. During my time at the White House, we were struggling with COVID relief. And I think that it's easy to see how these things get politicized. But I think that what would be best is that we don't punish punish the Californians who just lost everything, and instead focus our attacks on the poor management that I think we've seen from the mayor of LA, Karen Bass, and Governor Newsom.

Well, Kate, on that front, there has been criticism of Mayor Bass. She was overseas on an international trip when this happened, even though, of course, we knew the winds were expected to be bad. No one knew it was going to be this bad. She had vowed, as people are bringing up today, not to go on these trips when she was elected. Then there was that moment when Governor Newsom was confronted by a woman who was asking about the water and the fire hydrants. I just want to show that to people to remind them of this Californian going up to her governor and what she had to say.

Please tell me what you're going to do. I'm not going to hurt him. I promise. I'm literally talking to the President right now to specifically answer the question of what we can do for you and your daughter. Can I hear it? Can I hear your call? Because I don't believe it. Why is there no water in the hydrants, governor? That's all literally-Is it going to be different next time? It has to be.

What's your view of how Democrats are handling this?

Well, I think these moments of natural disaster can be really illuminating, and I would not disagree that there have been some optical stumbles. I think obviously, Mayor Vasse being out of the country was problematic. I think that was not a great clip for Governor Newsom, although he does say he is hearing her directly. He does say it has to be better next time, and he's acknowledging that. But I think we also have to be fair that this has been a dramatic event that has been impacted by weather currents that nobody can control, no Democrat, no Republican can control. But I do think I agree with Sarah. I think this idea of conditioning aid or perhaps even more dangerously tying aid to something as politically challenging as the debt ceiling, not only sets a dangerous precedent, it's also it's just putting politics ahead of humanity and empathy in a moment where our leaders should be making sure that citizens in California who are hurting get what they need just as they do for every other citizen in this country who suffers from a natural disaster. I think the idea that Republicans are starting to walk down this path is incredibly dangerous.

I will add to it. We do need to strike that balance between humanity, but then also I think that it's okay for these citizens to have rage toward their elected officials right now. I mean, there's a lot of questions that need to be answered about what went wrong in this response. It seems like there wasn't much proactive measures taken, and this is all reactive in response. I mean, why wasn't vegetation or why was it overgrown? Why wasn't brush cleared? Why were fire hydrants empty and reservoirs empty? I mean, these are questions that need to be asked, and it seems like poor governance on the part of these California elected officials.

The voters are, of course, their bosses. We'll see what happens. Katie Beddingfield is here, Matthew. Thank you both for being here.