Rep. Maxine Waters slams media ‘playing politics’ over wildfires and begs people to uplift Altadena’s Black community

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., says enough is enough when it comes to media narratives around political blame in the wake of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.

In a recent appearance on NewsNation, the congresswoman had a spirited debate with anchor Chris Cuomo over what the role of media should be at a time when an estimated 150,000 people have been displaced, 24 have died, and more deceased residents are expected to be found.

“I’m not into the blame game. I’m not into talking about whether or not Gavin Newsom is trying to protect himself and run for president. None of that,” Rep. Waters told Cuomo, explaining that she’d recently visited Westminster Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles.

“The people at that church, ministers, community leaders, all they want more attention on Altadena. Altadena has, you know, working people, people who may not have enough money by which to go and rent a hotel, maybe for, you know, months to come, etc. … Do everything that you can to get attention on Altadena; that whole area is just about been flattened. And we have working-class people who do not have a lot of resources.”

When Cuomo suggested that some critics would call that deflection from Democrats who are in leadership and have responsibility for the area, Rep. Waters responded passionately:

“Dammit you can do the politics later. You can come and talk about Gavin Newsom. You can talk about the Democrats’ leadership. I don’t care who you talk about, but don’t use up this precious time to do petty politics. Use the time to educate and to share information and to let people know where they can get some food, where they can get a place to stay, where they can get some clothing on and on and on. That’s where I am. I don’t know where you are.”

“I’m right with you,” Cuomo responded. “California is not the worst when it comes to this right now, but it’s not the best either … there’s a lot of money in California. There’s a lot of taxes paid and there are not a lot of resources for people right now and thinking FEMA’s going to pick up the slack.”

During the conversation, Rep. Waters argued that while California may have wealthy residents, ensuring that they take responsibility to pay a fair amount of taxes impacts public services. She also called on elected officials to do their jobs regardless of political party.

Critics have seized the opportunity to blame Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for cutting the LA Fire Department’s budget by $17.6 million, pointing out that one month before the fires, Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, warned that reducing overtime hours would impact the department in major emergency situations.

However, while Mayor Bass had cut overtime hours funding from the budget, ABC News analysis of city documents showed an overall increase in fire department spending of $58.4 million for firefighters’ salaries and benefits.

Experts have said that unusually high winds made the fires worse and more are expected to return on Tuesday. At the time of this story, the fires have still not been contained.

You can watch the full exchange and interview with Rep. Maxine Waters and Chris Cuomo below.