At the outset of the recent Los Angeles fires — estimated to be the most costly in U.S. history — Trump blamed “federal and state protections for California’s endangered delta smelt fish. He falsely claimed that those regulations led to inadequate water availability for firefighting efforts.” Right-wing media elevated this misinformation while firefighters raced to suppress the fires. 

• During the LA fires, Fox News and other right-wing media falsely blamed the reports of low water pressure or dry fire hydrants in Los Angeles on state and local mismanagement — including suggesting that local authorities refused to fill the reservoirs and conflating the hydrant issue with the false claim that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s water policies are to blame. [Media Matters, 1/10/25] 
• These false claims continued unabated despite reporting and multiple fact checks identifying them as inaccurate. The New York Times reported that “Peter Gleick, co-founder of the Pacific Institute, a California research organization that focuses on water, said Mr. Trump was spouting ‘complete nonsense,’” adding, “There’s no link between California’s water policies and efforts to protect endangered species and water availability for firefighters.” CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale pointed out, “The fact is that whatever happened in Los Angeles has nothing to do with a little fish in Northern California, like President Trump keeps saying.” [Media Matters, 1/24/25]
• On January 31, Trump shared a photo with the caption: “Photo of beautiful water flow that I just opened in California.” He continued, “Today, 1.6 billion gallons and, in 3 days, it will be 5.2 billion gallons. Everybody should be happy about this long fought Victory! I only wish they listened to me six years ago — There would have been no fire!” [Twitter/X, 1/31/25]
• Fox News has been conspicuously quiet about this “long fought Victory.” The network has mentioned the action only a few times including by host Sean Hannity, who featured it in a round-up of actions Trump accomplished in his first two weeks back in office, and in an interview on The Will Cain Show with new Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin. [Fox News, Hannity, 2/3/25; The Will Cain Show, 2/4/25] 
• Fox host Will Cain acknowledged the criticism of Trump’s action by “mainstream media outlets” and asked his new EPA administrator to respond, but Zeldin failed to explain how the water would help wildfire suppression. Zeldin responded, “We want to make sure the water is flowing. We also want to make sure that there is access to safe drinking water. This response is big — what is going on in LA right now is the largest wildfire response in the history of the EPA. We want to do a good job.” [Fox News, The Will Cain Show, 2/4/25] 

• The San Francisco Chronicle: “Trump says he freed water for California. Locals say it wasn’t needed.” Reporting on the water releases, the paper noted, “The quantity threatened to flood areas downstream and wasn’t needed for crops during the rainy season. … Also, despite Trump’s assertions, the reservoir water wasn’t likely to find its way to firefighters in the Los Angeles area, where deadly fires have obliterated entire neighborhoods. Such a delivery, while technically possible, would be a long, inefficient haul and require pumps that aren’t in place.” [San Francisco Chronicle, 2/1/25]
• The Los Angeles Times quoted experts who suggested the move could actually hurt farmers. The paper reported: “Local water managers said they were caught off-guard by the federal government’s plans on Thursday. Dan Vink, a water consultant who previously served as general manager of the Lower Tule River Irrigation District, called the situation ‘extremely unprecedented.’” “This is going to hurt farmers,” he added. “This takes water out of their summer irrigation portfolio.” Peter Gleick, a water scientist and senior fellow at the Pacific Institute, said, “I think it’s very strange and it’s disturbing that, after decades of careful local, state and federal coordination, some federal agencies are starting to unilaterally manipulate California’s water supply.” [Los Angeles Times, 1/31/25]
• Bay Area CBS News station KPIX spoke to a local expert who said that the release “doesn’t do anybody any good.” “‘Apparently, Mr. Trump felt that that was going to help Southern California,’ said water strategist Barry Nelson. ‘Number one, those rivers aren't connected to Southern California. That water will not get to Southern California. Number two, that's water that the Corps was holding for farmers to irrigate with next summer. Releasing it now, when it's raining doesn't do anybody good, except it creates the very real risk of potential flooding.’” [CBS News, 2/3/25]
• Rolling Stone: “By dumping ‘billions’ of gallons of water during California's rainy season, Trump is double-crossing the very farmers he claims to back in the state’s water wars.” [Twitter/X, 2/4/25]
• CNN wrote, “There are two major problems, water experts said: The newly released water will not flow to Los Angeles, and it is being wasted by being released during the wet winter season.” “‘They were holding extra water in those reservoirs because of the risk that it would be a dry summer,’ said Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization the Pacific Institute. ‘This puts agriculture at risk of insufficient water during the summer months.’” [CNN, 2/3/25]
• CNN’s chief climate correspondent Bill Weir argued that Trump has “almost a childlike ignorance” of California water policy. Weir explained, “What is most staggering is that people at the Army Corps of Engineers in California who know better had to follow his command. He's talked about this giant faucet that holds water from Canada and the Pacific. This water will end up in the Central Valley, a farm country hundreds of miles. An entire mountain range away from Los Angeles, where the fires are now fully contained anyway. So this defies logic on every level.” [CNN, CNN News Central, 2/3/25]
• MSNBC host Chris Hayes reported that there isn’t a connection between Trump’s false claims that water policy was hurting fire suppression and the action he took to supposedly remedy it. “According to one climate and hydrology expert, there is absolutely no connection between this water and the water needed for firefighting in LA,” Hayes said. “There's no physical connection. There's no way to move the water from where it is to the Los Angeles basin. This is like pouring a glass of water down your sink in order to water your houseplants. All Donald Trump did was waste billions of gallons of water that was meant for farmers in the Central Valley to use during the growing season.” [MSNBC, All In with Chris Hayes, 2/4/25]
• MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell called the move “the stupidest water action in the history of California.” O’Donnell continued, “Last week, without warning, Donald Trump had the Army Corps of Engineers open up a federally controlled flow of water in Northern California that was completely unnecessary and unusable by anyone in Southern California, and possibly by anyone in California, because it almost created flooding in an excess of water beyond what anyone could use.” [MSNBC, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, 2/3/25]
• Politico ran the headline: “Trump says he opened California’s water. Local officials say he nearly flooded them.” Politico reported, “Local officials had to talk the Army Corps of Engineers down after it abruptly alerted them Thursday afternoon it was about to increase flows from two reservoirs to maximum capacity — a move the agency said was in response to Trump directing the federal government to ‘maximize’ water supplies. Before the Corps ratcheted down its plan, local authorities scrambled to move equipment and warn farms about possible flooding, said Victor Hernandez, who oversees water management on one of the rivers, the Kaweah in Tulare County. He said the Corps gave him one hour notice on Thursday.” [Politico, 1/31/25]