BIDEN & NEWSOM playing the victim, joking misinfo; County admits no control as false alert goes off

As the Los Angeles wildfires continued in January 2025, President Biden and Governor Newsom appeared together and dismissed criticism of the wildfire response as “misinformation,” with Biden telling Newsom “give me a break” about the fire hydrant failures and Newsom claiming there were “hurricane force winds of mis- and disinformation.” Meanwhile, a county emergency management official admitted they did not have full control over their alert system — and a false alert went off during his explanation. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre opened one of her final briefings with a lecture about politics and compassion aimed at Trump and Republicans.

Biden Defends Newsom on Fire Hydrants

In a joint appearance that drew immediate criticism for its dismissive tone, President Biden directly addressed the fire hydrant controversy that had become one of the defining failures of the wildfire response. Dry hydrants across Los Angeles had been documented as firefighters struggled to contain the blazes, and the images of empty hydrants had become a symbol of government failure.

“I know you’re getting a bad rap about these fire hydrants don’t have enough water in them. Give me a break,” Biden told Newsom. He then offered an explanation, pointing to utility companies’ decisions to cut power as the root cause.

“What this is all about is the utilities understandably — what they did is they cut off power because they’re worried about these high tension lines coming down and causing more fires than the wind, right?” Biden explained. “When they do that, guess what? They shut off the power of the controls, the ability to pump the water. And so now they’re getting generators. I mean, this is complicated stuff.”

Biden’s “give me a break” framing was seized upon by critics who argued that the president was minimizing a genuine failure rather than acknowledging it. Whether or not the utility power shutoffs explained the hydrant failures, the dismissive tone struck many as inappropriate while homes were still burning and residents were still displaced.

Biden concluded by characterizing critics as opportunists. “They’re going to have a lot of demagogues out there trying to take advantage of it. But you’re doing the right thing,” Biden told Newsom. “We’re going to get it done. God willing. And I say to the people of Southern California, God bless you. Stay strong. We’re not going anywhere.”

Newsom Claims “Hurricane Force” Misinformation

Governor Newsom then delivered his own remarks, pivoting from the physical disaster to what he characterized as an information disaster. Rather than addressing the substance of the criticism — the budget cuts, the dry hydrants, the delayed response — Newsom cast himself as a victim of a misinformation campaign.

“I ask you, we’ve got to deal with this misinformation,” Newsom said. “There were hurricane force winds of mis- and disinformation lies. People want to divide this country. And we’re going to have to address that as well.”

Newsom described the alleged misinformation as personally painful. “It breaks my heart as people are suffering and struggling that we’re up against those hurricane force forces as well,” he said. “And that’s just a point of personal privilege that I share that with you because it infects real people that are out there, people I meet every single day, people the mayor has been meeting with.”

He argued that the misinformation was distorting conversations among affected residents. “They’re having conversations that are not the typical conversations you’d have at this time. And you wonder where this stuff comes from. And it’s very damaging as well,” Newsom said. “But we’re here to get the job done.”

The framing drew sharp criticism from those who pointed out that the fire hydrant failures, the budget cuts, and the delayed emergency response were documented facts rather than misinformation. Newsom’s use of the word “misinformation” to describe legitimate criticism of his administration’s preparedness was seen by many as an attempt to delegitimize accountability rather than address the failures directly.

County Admits No Control Over Alert System

In one of the more startling moments captured in the video, a county emergency management official admitted that the government did not have full control over its emergency alert system. The official was explaining coordination efforts with federal and state partners when he acknowledged the gap.

“In coordination with our federal and state partners, how we can stop the messages that are going out right now that are not being initiated by human action to stop that and then understand how that occurred so that the tool can still be used,” the official said. The statement confirmed that false alerts had been sent out through the system without authorization, creating confusion among residents who were already dealing with genuine evacuation orders and fire threats.

In a moment of dark irony, a false alert reportedly went off during the official’s explanation. The inability to control the alert system — the very tool designed to protect residents during emergencies — underscored a pattern of infrastructure failures that extended beyond fire hydrants and into the digital systems meant to coordinate disaster response.

The admission raised serious questions about the reliability of emergency management infrastructure in Los Angeles County. If the government could not control its own alert system during an active emergency, the potential for dangerous confusion — residents ignoring real alerts because they had been conditioned by false ones — was significant.

KJP’s Lecture on Compassion

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre opened one of her final White House press briefings with remarks that were widely interpreted as directed at Donald Trump and Republican critics of the California response.

“I wanted to take a moment to remind everyone in this room and who’s watching at home that this is not about politics. This is about people. This is about humanity,” KJP said. “People who have literally lost everything. We need to be thinking about Californians, their priorities, and how we can all come together to support them.”

She then drew comparisons to other disaster responses. “From Maui to North Carolina to California, we have seen that these disasters do not discriminate,” KJP said. “So it is on all of us to show these people, to show folks in California, some compassion as they are reckoning with an unimaginable disaster.”

Critics noted the irony of the Biden administration calling for an end to politicization when the same administration had presided over highly politicized responses to previous disasters. The reference to North Carolina was particularly pointed, as the federal response to Hurricane Helene in late 2024 had drawn significant criticism from Republicans who argued the administration had been slow to assist the predominantly conservative region.

The Deflection Pattern

The combined messaging from Biden, Newsom, and KJP followed a consistent pattern: rather than addressing the substance of the criticism — dry hydrants, budget cuts, a mayor who traveled abroad during fire season, a governor who prioritized dam removal — the response was to label the criticism as misinformation, demagoguing, or politicization.

Biden’s “give me a break” comment, Newsom’s “hurricane force winds of misinformation,” and KJP’s call for compassion over accountability all served the same purpose: shifting the conversation away from specific governmental failures and toward a narrative in which the critics were the problem.

Key Takeaways

• Biden told Newsom “give me a break” about the fire hydrant criticism, blaming utility power shutoffs for the inability to pump water.
• Newsom characterized criticism of his wildfire response as “hurricane force winds of mis- and disinformation,” claiming it “breaks my heart.”
• A county emergency management official admitted they did not have full control over the alert system, and a false alert went off during his explanation.
• KJP opened a briefing with a lecture about compassion, widely interpreted as aimed at Trump and Republicans criticizing California’s response.
• The combined messaging followed a pattern of labeling legitimate criticism as misinformation rather than addressing specific governmental failures.

Transcript Highlights

The following is transcribed from the video audio:

• I know you’re getting a bad rap about these fire hydrants don’t have enough water in them. Give me a break.
• They cut off power because they’re worried about these high tension lines coming down and causing more fires. When they do that, they shut off the power of the controls, the ability to pump the water.
• They’re going to have a lot of demagogues out there trying to take advantage of it. But you’re doing the right thing.
• There were hurricane force winds of mis- and disinformation lies. People want to divide this country. And we’re going to have to address that as well.
• It breaks my heart as people are suffering and struggling that we’re up against those hurricane force forces as well.
• I wanted to take a moment to remind everyone in this room and who’s watching at home that this is not about politics. This is about people.

Full transcript: 475 words transcribed via Whisper AI.