, a lawful --

[applause]

[crowd chanting usa] [indistinct conversations]

pres. trump: thank you very much . thank you very much, everybody. it's an honor to be with you. unfortunately it's a very sad period but what make you feel good is i met so many of the homeowners and everyone of them, a lot of them, everyone of them said they want to rebuild. i said will you go elsewhere? they said no, it wasn't even a question, they love the area and the people. it's incredible when you see things like that. we just left north carolina and a similar type of disaster. it was water instead of fire but it did damage like i've never seen before and then you come here in you see this. the people are so amazing and your fire department was so

beautiful. everyone imperfect, physical shape, i said what you guys do, they have high standards. we took pictures with all of them and very nicely they give us a little helmet and i said you where this, is this real? they said yeah, i said it's awfully heavy and you have to be pretty strong to wear that. but that is the original, it's pretty good. i just want to thank everybody. we will be with you, your governor met us at the plane and we had a good talk, a very positive talk, we have to work together to get this worked out. i don't think you can realize how rough it is, how devastating it is until you see it. i didn't realize. i saw a lot of bad things on television but the extent, we flew over it in a helicopter, we flew to a few of the areas and it is devastation, it is

incredible, it is really an incineration. even some of the chimneys came down. when the chimneys come down you know that is hot stuff and a lot of them were down. i just want to commiserate and we are going to celebrate and back to celebrate one day soon i hope. the federal government standing behind you 100%. the first lady and i are in california to express a great love for the people of california. i've had great support always in california. we did very well recently as you know relatively speaking i can say. it's been amazing. i have property in california not too far away, up in palos verdes, a big property. i've always loved it and loved being here. but we have to grieve for the 28

californians who have tragically perished and sadly you will be finding more and that will be very sad because i know people are missing. when you look at that kind of consideration you know it's going to happen and you will find some more. but with all we've gone through, i watched the firefighters and they were really fighting at a disadvantage i got to know a lot of them just now, they are incredible people and they were so happy, saying congratulations, sir. they are thinking about country even maybe before this location they all love. i am pleased to be joined by many of the great california leaders both democrat and republican. it's an honor to meet some of you i didn't know, but i know all of you by name. l.a. county supervisor catherine barker, thank you, mayor karen bass, thank you, it is nice to

meet you. representatives jay obernolte. it's been a tough period, right? vince fong, kevin kiley. hi. a man i know very well -- too well actually. and i say that with love because he's been a great congressman for a long time and a great leader and he loves the area as much as anybody. darrell. young kim. congratulations on an excellent career. another i know well is tom mcclintock. he's been with us a long time, we have interesting things going on in washington. it's an honor you guys are here,

thank you very much. george whitesides. that's a great name. brad sherman, i know brad well. but that's all right, we are on the same side of this one, we will work together well. presidential envoy ric grenell who has done a fantastic job for me over the years, he was ambassador to germany and was fantastic. 2.5 years ago over 100 mile-per-hour winds formed the palisades fire and other areas too into infernos of death and destruction and this is already the most expensive natural disaster they say in american history. that's pretty amazing. the numbers will be staggering. most important we we have to get it built and hopefully find

people as possible. we already have too many. 28 at least they say. we are going to work very hard with the mayor, the governor, the supervisor, everybody command get the resources behind you. we have some amazing people and amazing fighters for things like this. i also have the concept of getting some of the best developers in the country -- i had so many calls from developers and they want to come, they don't want anything, they just want to help and they know how to get things built. i would ask the local officials -- we will essentially waive all federal permits and have you go very quickly because the federal permit can take 10 years and we won't do that, we don't want to take 10 days. [applause]

we are declaring this a national emergency and i can give you immediate permits. i asked that the local permitting process would be the same, some have said they will have to wait 18 months for their permits and i can't imagine that. they are in a position right now, they would like to start right now, they just want to start and they were very concerned with the 18 months and i'm sure you can get it down to i would say not even 18 days. they are ready to start. i met so many of them. the fire took place, it is nice and cool they are now and they want to stop taking the debris, they want to take the debris and do everything, get rid of everything. they are going to do it by their own hand and you will see amazing things happen.

we are waving federal permits. or give to you so rapidly, it will be essentially the same thing. we will try to waive them. i hope the local will do the same thing. they are ready to start right away tonight. if you could do almost the same thing or the same thing it would be great. for a building permit, you have to check things out. everyone of them said they would rebuild. not one person said they were selling or leaving were disgusted -- they love their community. we even had one from your neck of the woods, right? do you want to stand up, it was so nice -- [applause] she greeted my wife in a very different language, right? it was very nice to see. you are staying and you are going to rebuild and everything else.

it's great. i'm signing an executive order to open the pumps and valves in the north to get the water pouring down here as quickly as possible and let hundreds of millions of gallons of water flow down into southern california. that will be a big benefit to you. if you don't want it, you can tell me but i can't imagine -- i tell you who likes it is the fire department. when i said that they were very happy with that. they didn't mind hearing that. we have a lot of water available. i hope you can work that out among yourselves. i think this will show we have to have that water. we have to have that water. you talk about unlimited water coming from the pacific northwest, even coming up from parts of canada. it pours down naturally and has for a million years. you will never run out, never have shortages, and you won't

have things like this. and when you do you will have a lot of water to put it out. i will ask you figure that out. i strongly recommended this seven years ago. i think i will just do it. if you have big problems you let me know but i can't imagine it. we are also surging federal resources and assistance to the state. california must adopt commonsense policies to prevent fires. we were talking seven or eight years ago, i was talking to people from austria, people from finland and people who live in forests. one of the gentlemen, one of the great leaders of austria says we don't have forest fires, we have trees that are more flammable than in california but they

literally rake their forests, if it trickles down they take it down. they say you have 18 months and after that it is a matchstick. i know some environmental groups like the trees to melt into the ground but when they do they become an inferno. you have to change your ways. you have 30 years of leaves and they are dry as a bone and they burn. i was in paradise, a long time ago, what a beautiful paradise it was. how is it doing? they are rebuilding? he said you were up here, president. i never saw anything like it. the trees were ok. because the trees were loaded with water. this was an inferno. no different than this and also the wind caused a lot of

problems -- you had tremendous winds that there is not a lot you can do with come up to 100 mile-per-hour winds. when i was in paradise i noticed the trees were dark on the bottom but they were living and they lived because they were soaking wet but the trees on the ground within 12 to 18 months -- they say 18 months at a maximum you have to take them away because they are matchsticks. you saw that with me and i commented at the time, i said look, the house has burned down and the tree is standing and other than being a little different color on the bottom and it went through an inferno, it is amazing, it is soaking wet. it is called management of the floor. the gentleman from austria and finland and other countries, they said we managed the forest floor very carefully and we don't have forest fires. they just don't have them.

they just don't have them so i know you will do the same thing. there can be no golden age without the golden state. it is a fantastic place. and we will have a big celebration soon. we will come back and we will come back as much as you need and we are going to turn it around. we are going to open the coffers. america wants this to be taking care of. this was a terrible thing to watch. it kept going and going and then they would find another area. it was like a genius on the others of the fire, the way it kept moving but we will not stand for it. we just met with the olympic people and they are all set to do a real job. we have the olympics. i got them. it was very interesting. i made the deal for the olympics. i was called by your former mayor and he said, will you call the olympics? the democrats were not calling

and they would not do it. i did and got along great with the olympic committee and we got the olympics. and then we got you the world cup. gianni was great, the head of it so you have that coming and then you have the 250 years coming up which will be a great celebration. i will never forget when i got the olympics, i was president when i got that and they said -- too bad you will be president but who knew this was going to happen? i thought i would be read tired by four days by now. so anyway, i got them and at least i will be able to celebrate the olympics, the world cup and the 250 years will be a big year. we have the three biggest there are and it was an hundred to get. if you have any questions, please let me know and if you

have a statement to make, politically -- >> mr. president, thank you for coming to the 32nd congressional district. most people don't have adequate insurance because they could not get it. one company dropped 1600 policies in the last six months. we have 16 times as much property damage here as from hawaii and i'm hoping he get at least 16 times the federal appropriation for they cdbg program that helps people rebuild. and i know you have talked about policies of california that you are not a fan of. but i have been in congress for 28 years and i really disagree with louisiana on their abortion policy, i disagree with them on their kiam pain. campaign-finance policy on their

gun policy and i would never turned a somebody from louisiana and say -- you keep living on your cousins couch because we are not going to help you rebuild until louisiana agrees with me on a woman's right to choose. so i'm hoping we can get these funds and we don't punish individuals for the policies of their state. you can disagree with them. and i think you have some ideas. i look forward to us listening. also on tariffs, i often agree with you on tariffs but how about no tariffs on building materials for the next three years? pres. trump: we will take a look at that. mayor? >> let me take you the opportunity to officially welcome you to los angeles. we appreciate you coming especially coming just a few days after your inauguration. your presence here is appreciated. i also know you have had an opportunity to see the devastation.

you have seen the extreme loss, the grief people are going through here and we are 100% committed to getting this neighborhood rebuilt again. you mentioned a couple of things in terms of us expediting. so i signed executive directives right away so we could cut the red tape and get people back building is pat -- as fast as possible and we are going to continue doing that. pres. trump: they are saying they will not be allowed to start for 18 months. >> that will not be the case. you can hold me to that. pres. trump: four groups said. appeared they should be able to start tonight. >> you know first we have to take care there is not -- that we are getting rid of the hazardous waste and cleaning things up so people can start right away. if someone's house was destroyed and they are going to rebuild essentially the same, they really shouldn't have to go

through much of our process so i want you to know we are expediting that. we need your help. pres. trump: you have got it, i told you. you will have no permit problem, zero delay and as far as i'm concerned, you already have the permits. i am more worried because i met at least eight groups of homeowners and i'm much more worried about the fact that they said it is 18 months exactly and they were devastated. they want to start removing things but they are not allowed to do that. when you mentioned hazardous waste, what is hazardous waste? we will have to do find that appeared we have to go through a series of questions on determining what is hazardous? you have to allow people to go to their site and allow them to start tonight. >> and we will. >> mr. president, i'm

congresswoman judy chu and i represent pasadena and altadena, that is the atn fire. there is a world of hurt. i know you've gone to the palisades and their is the devastation but it is apocalyptic and thankfully i have catherine barker, a partner, working to help people get back to normal and to rebuild. right now they have nothing and there have been 9500 structures burned. most of the deaths have occurred in our area. thousands of people are without homes. these are working people, these are working-class people, people like dr. jackie jacobs that was an educator all her life. and became the first black administrator of her educational institution, pasadena city college. she retired. she is now 88 years old.

her home of 30 years burned and she has nothing. she left with only the clothing on her back. she has nothing. they need this help. i just want to make sure that you remember the people in altadena and pasadena and that you can come there and see how terrible the devastation has been there so they can get the help that they need. pres. trump: just remember one thing and i like the way you express yourself, beautifully, actually. i have only been here three days. and i will do a great job. but we had another president and his took place during the life of another president, not me, but i'm going to be the president that is going to help you fix it because he would not of been able to help you fix that.

so we will take care of it. and we will work closely. we will work closely and i know your community was really devastated, incredibly so. we understand that. >> i'm going to follow up. i also represent altadena. i tell people that those affected are those you talk to during when you are running. you have individuals from every walk of life. at one time it was the only place i work in americans could purchase homes, it was redlined. you have a lot of generational wealth there. we have had meetings with many people in hud that you have there to work with your administration to see how we can help. i've been pleasantly surprised, i know in hud we have some asks that we will be working with you

on. more importantly i want to emphasize what congresswoman chu said which is these are individuals that feel forgotten. what i tell them and when we invited you out here i told, when i went to the a and -- ame church, this president talked to you when he was running. you understand the difficulty of making ends meet, the high cost of living in their biggest fear is that they are going -- and that is going to impact their ability to rebuild. this is my last term and i committed that we have talked about 18 months but i've told our county staff that if you are going to get in the way, get another job. we are an all hands on deck. and if the bureaucracy cannot get out of the way we will roll over it. the governor has waived seek what which i feel should be

completely reformed if not eliminated. and if it is being -- pres. trump: how -- what has been the attitude of the people running that whole situation? >> it adds year sometimes to an application. pres. trump: and the coastal commission also. we will have to override the coastal commission. i've dealt with that for a long time and they are considered the most difficult in the entire country and we cannot have them play their games and wait 10 years for them to give someone a permit. i will override the coastal commission. i won't let them get away with their antics. [applause] thank you. >> mr. president, i want to thank you for your leadership on california water policy. you made it a priority from day one.

we have wildfires as well. california is a wild fire prone area so insuring stable water supplies is critical. your leadership and your executive order maximizing flows and building more water storage and more conveyance and coordinating -- pres. trump: i know your area well and it would have an unbelievable impact on your area. >> we just want to thank you for making it a priority. pres. trump: even beyond the fire stuff, the farms. i was driving up a few years ago because they were complaining that they had no water. i was driving up and you see this incredible land that is bone dry. there are green patches, beautiful. they say the land is as good as iowa farmland but there is no water. they send the water into the pacific ocean. when we let that water come through your valley's and down to los angeles, you will have a

different place. it will be a whole different place. you have to get together and say, we want it. it is the craziest thing i've ever seen. your farmers will be able to -- instead of having one acre out of 100, they will be able to have 100 acres out of 100. they say it is the best farmland just about in the country. but it is no good without water. that is beyond the powers -- the fire stuff but today we are talking about fire but it is good for everything. i hope you can lead a group and support what i'm doing because what i'm doing, i guess, is controversial though i don't know what is controversial about sending millions and millions of gallons of beautiful, fresh water from the pacific northwest and further up than that into an area that is bone dry.

i have a house in beverly hills and we get notices wanting you to go down to 38 gallons per person per house. i mean -- 38 gallons sounds like a lot. it is not a lot. they want to do that every once in a while and you think it is ridiculous because you have just about as much water as anyone in the country. you should not be in a position where you have tumbleweed that is dry as about, even a tumbleweed can be rich and loaded with water that won't burn. but it is just dry. i hope you can get together and say -- i'm so happy with the water that will be flowing. i just don't see anything -- they talk about the delta smelt but it is not something that needs to be protected because it is in numerous other areas.

the people of california has to be protected. >> mr. president, could i just speak for a moment? you are right about the coastal commission and i've introduced legislation to rein them in. pres. trump: they are out of control. i think they thrive on it. so ridiculous. >> they tried to stop spacex from launching rockets. you mentioned your predecessor and how he did not fix the situation. not only that, during the colder fire, 600 people lost their homes. he came and promised he would help them out but he broke the promise many times. he never delivered the individual assistance they were asking for. this has underscored the importance of helping the victims. making sure that in every fire

we get money for the victims and nothing stands in the way of that. thank you for your focus on bringing sanity to california, water and fire policy. there is no one that needs a revolution of common sense more than california. pres. trump: you have so much water, use it and be happy about it. >> i am a journalist and live in the pacific palisades as do other colleagues. one colleague wrote a song "fighter" which you played at your campaign rallies and he lost his house. we were lucky because i was able to fight the fire on my fence. when i got to my house, there was no water in the pipes. i got inside and picked up the flower vases because i give my wife flowers every week and there was water there and we started with that. and i found my sons bucket of

baseballs and i dumped the baseballs on the ground and used of the bucket but there was still no water except for the water in the gutter coming from the burnt homes uphill. so i went to an fro tomei gutter and my fence with my bucket. two guys showed up in a truck, to neighbors and we found two more buckets. bucket after bucket after bucket , many of my neighbors tried to fight the fires and we couldn't. we were lucky our house was saved but we should not have to rely on buckets to put out a fire. you cannot stop and 80 mile-per-hour wind but there were many things that went wrong here that are basic and small. we did not have traffic police to guide the evacuation so there was gridlock on sunset. they have removed the real goals but there were dozens abandoned by drivers that fled for their lives because there were no traffic cops available. the fire department was not

pre-deployed though there was an extreme wind event coming. many of my neighbors lost their fire insurance in the days before the blaze. i asked my neighbors, what would they want to know if i could ask the president a question and the number one thing was insurance. can you work with the insurance companies to get people back to where they were before they lost the coverage because of california's regulations? and can you make california change its rules so when we build again, we can get fire insurance and don't have to worry? and one other point, i appreciate my congressman advocating for the money from the federal government. i understand americans that are tired of spending money on california and disasters happen and then the california government passes $50 million to oppose your policy so they have $50 million for that but not for moving people into rental homes

or helping people relocate. i would ask you to follow the 9/11 commission president and appoint a special master to watch the money and make sure that every federal dollar that gets spent is spent on fire relief and rebuilding and not on everything else. [applause] pres. trump: a good idea. here is a good one over here. >> he is very busy. pres. trump: the abbasid dirt to germany was fantastic. angela merkel's happiest day ever in her history was the day i removed him from there and put him in charge of the high level of intelligence and intelligent people but they were not intelligent enough to fool him. but he has been fantastic and he lives here. i don't know if you want to recommend some people are get together and recommend some people as a group. rick would be someone that i

would certainly consider. and breitbart is fantastic, by the way and congratulations on that. i was so impressed with the fire fighters i met before. and they said, i asked them, how many of the hydrants or pumps were working? and a large percentage of them were not working at all and they had no water and those that did have water didn't have a lot of pressure. one thing that was missing, many of you have sprinklers over your living room and kitchen. if the sprinklers worked with pressure, you would've had a much different outcome. we have to work on that. in terms of that rick would be good or rick could had up a group of people to set up a commission. we are talking about a lot of money. and kelly loeffler is the head of small business and small

business is big business. one of the biggest banks in the world. we call it the small business administration. she is a full cabinet member and fantastic. her husband is the head of the new york stock exchange so they know something about money. she wants to come here almost immediately after she gets approved and open up a small business to the area. they have a lot of money. i always say the small business is big is in is when you add it all up. she will come here and that is an important thing. i want to thank the first lady because she wanted to come, she wanted to be here. she has so many friends and she also wanted to see north carolina where there was another disaster. she just wanted to go there. we said we were going to stop at one and go to the other.

in many respects it was a depressing day but also a beautiful day because the spirit is so incredible both in north carolina and here. a similar situation. so different and yet so similar. i just thought it was very nice that she wanted to be here and we appreciate her. [applause] >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: is that local? >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: i don't want to be

the only one to give you permits in one day and then i find out that the city and state will not give you permits. the problem with permits is it only takes one, you might need seven. and you are only as good as the weakest one. if you have one that will hold you up at the other will give you it in 24 hours, that won't help you much. they have to work on that. >> that is not the answer -- what is the answer? >> we are going to do everything we can, slashing regulations, expediting everything to people can begin the process right away. we have the disaster recovery center on westwood and way of the bing and safety there and people are already contacting the local agencies. we are bringing our city departments together so people do not get caught in the loop of going from one room to the next.

we want them all in the same room so you can get busy rebuilding asap. >> [indiscernible] >> absolutely. yes. and we will clear the lots in the city and the county. we are working together, both levels of government working in unity. >> [indiscernible] not 18 months? that was the answer we got and that is what we are hanging on. if you are telling us now faster, is it six months? pres. trump: six months is no good. >> the number one thing we are going to do immediately and you will see this happen is to clear out the debris. we are concerned right now over the weekend because of the potential rain. we will move as fast as we can. we want you to be safe. we want you back in your homes

immediately. pres. trump: the people are willing to clean out their own debris. by the time you hire contractors, it will be two years. people are willing to get a dumpster and do it themselves, then clean it out. there isn't that much left, it has all been incinerated. you can do some of it. that died right there that is talking and i know my people he will be out there tonight throwing stuff away and the site will look perfect in 24 hours and that is what he wants to do. he doesn't want to wait for seven months. and wait for a contractor and who will charge him thousands of dollars to clear his lot. you have emergency powers as i do. i'm exercising my powers. >> i did exercise my emergency power. pres. trump: you can do

everything within 24 hours. >> and if individuals want to clear out their property, they can. >> [indiscernible] >> you know you will be able to go back soon. we think within a week. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: that is a long time , a week. everyone standing in front of their house want to go to work and they are not allowed to do that. >> but it is for them to be safe. pres. trump: they are not safe now. they will be much safer -- a week is a long time. i have watched hundreds of people standing in front of their lots and they are not allowed to go in. it is all burned. it is gone. it isn't going to burn anymore. and they want to go in. the people are all over the place standing. i asked, why aren't you going in?

and they said we need a permit and everyone says 18 months. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: that was last night. >> we cannot even see our homes right now. we are blocked from entering our streets. >> mr. president, we are going to be together next week. in the interim, many of us are involved with governor mcclintock who has been an expert on this for years. we will be putting conditions on the money to do two things -- require it be done timely and affordable and secondly, that we protect those that will come afterwards. as we speak there are 6000 acres burning in my district on the mexican border. there will be more fires until we include in any disaster relief items that will prevent or mitigate it from happening again.

you will see us proposing both of those. pres. trump: like water -- the purdy of common sense. we are the party of common sense , in all fairness. we like water to put out fires. it is quite efficient. >> mr. president, my district is a bit east of here. you were talking about the need to better manage our forests and wild lins from happening again and you're so right about that. last year, a couple months ago in october they put out the line fire in my district that was over twice as big as the palisades fire. they put it out less than a mile from my house in an area where we had done vending and they stopped the fire on a firebreak that we had built a couple of years ago. we have an area on the other of my community that hasn't been thinned in decades because it is

being held up by a lawsuit from an environmental group that says we are going to reduce habitat. in addition to getting resources and boots on the ground to do this treatment, we need to reform our legal system to prevent the lawsuits from tying up these projects for years. it is not to say the mayor shouldn't be heard but we need to resolve them. pres. trump: is this a state or federal group? >> a local group but they have help from the state. pres. trump: they use the environment to make themselves feel good and they are destroying our country. you have to put down your foot. you have local, state and federal groups. you have to fight them the right way. even if the mayor gives, you will have a local group come in and sue. they will talk about asbestos and every other thing. they want to go on their property and clean out their property and you cannot let

anything get in their way. you will have this place builds up more beautiful than before. and i would give them a 10% or 15% bonus on their house. they went through hell and they should get a bonus on size or height. they went through hell. some of them had houses where they were restricted with an eight foot ceiling. let them have a 10 foot ceiling. let them build a nicer house than they had before. i would let them have a bonus on their lands and i think it would be well received. they would be able to build a little bit nicer house. do you like that idea, by the way? they deserve it. it isn't their fault that the fire took place. this fire could have been stopped. it is not the fault of the homeowner.

they should be entitled to a bonus on their house. >> some good news from paradise. we stood together six years ago along with the governor. 3400 homes have been rebuilt out of the 18,000 lost and there are 400 more in the wings. fema was helpful. my colleague that has altered in , probably a similar situation. they will probably have to clear a foot of soil from the foundations to get out the toxicity. pres. trump: we did a good job with you people. >> fema was very helpful. pres. trump: that was when fema was very good and we ran it. >> on the water, thank you for your strong efforts on that. lake shasta is dumping more water than what is coming in so is fulsome lake. those are federal projects that should be building up because we

are latter january here and you cannot count on the rain and snow coming every year. if we don't fill those projects my colleague in san joaquin valley won't get the water for his farmers. and then the water needs to go through aqueducts in southern cal to refill the reservoir. pres. trump: with the water coming down, you don't need the reservoir. you have reservoirs because you were trying to hold water. you have natural water coming down along the coast, for a million years it has been coming. in addition you have a lot of half pipes. it has not been used. it is bone dry. no water has been in that half pipe for years. it was closed up years ago. >> the reservoir has been full

-- if it had been full they would not of run out a few hours. 40 acre-feet. pres. trump: the reservoir has been empty for a long time but should not have been empty. >> my name is tracy park and i represent the people of the pacific palisades on the l.a. say they counsel. i wanted to thank you for your loyal support to our military, police officers and especially our firefighters. [applause] my top priority going forward is to get these men and women home as soon as possible and open up the pathway to begin the rebuilding process. it was the army corps of engineers that announced last night that it would be 18 months. i am fully committed to doing my

part on the ground with our state agencies and city and county partners to speed this up. i ask for your ongoing partnership with fema, the epa and other federal agencies to make sure that we have a commitment across all layers of government to get these people back home. thank you, sir. pres. trump: thank you very much. well said. fema is a big disappointment. we had it working well and had great people but fema is not good anymore. in north carolina they still have not gone to certain areas. i say, we don't need fema but a good state government. when you have a problem in los angeles and even in the state of california, who have your own fema and you fix it yourself. you don't have someone coming into a state where they have no idea like florida. they have people coming in from alaska. by the time they get from

anywhere, they don't know anything. fema is a very expensive and mostly failed situation. we had great people and did some great jobs but each state should take care of their problems and get money from the federal government it would be more efficient. we are looking at that. and you will have problems with fema also and you already have. they haven't even showed up and it often takes weeks before they do. the state relies on fema and nobody does anything because fema doesn't show up here it is not a good suasion so we will make -- it is not a good situation so we will make some recommendations. i am hearing things i don't like to hear. i think you will not get your permits as fast as people are saying. mayor, if i can help you with that regard you let me know what you will have the federal points -- permits which is by far the

hardest part. the department of commerce controls that and i already have that approval. the hard part was the federal we have that done. anything i can do, please let me know. please go ahead. >> [indiscernible] the schools, the rec center and the libraries rebuilt. whatever federal support -- pres. trump: you lost all your schools. all four schools. >> the schools, the rec center, the library. this is an incredible community of families. that is what our kids did all day, go to school, the rec center and the library. if none of the infrastructure is here, it is not the same community. pres. trump: were they completely burnt down, the

schools? all of them? >> pretty much all of them. palisades elementary. the place is basically just right. we cannot wait five years. we cannot live there if there is no schools. that is an area where we would love your support. i love the idea of having some local counsel that can use the federal dollars and implement them quickly into rebuilding those areas. pres. trump: i will ask rick -- you might put a couple of the fire guys back there that i just met. get a group and figure out how we can do the processing faster. >> if the height can defend -- if i can defend fema, they brought thousands of people in -- i don't know how they are doing in other states but they are doing a good job for us here. they have a huge center open from 9:00 until 8:00.

when you have a disaster of this size you need to be able to deploy thousands of people which they have. if california had to do it on their own, maybe we have thousands of people but if rhode island has a palisades disaster -- pres. trump: how many millions of people do you have in california? 40 million people. you are not going to get a few thousand people? the problem with fema is they come from all over the country and they end up in arguments with people from california because they want to do it a different way. i can live either way. just look at north carolina -- one of the big disasters of all time. >> you cannot have rhode island maintain a staff of thousands of people waiting to see if they have a disaster. pres. trump: do you know who came in and fixed north carolina or are in the process?

people from all over the country. you have the same thing. getting the people is not the problem by getting the organization is the problem. fema is incompetently run. you should spend the money on schools rather than giving money to bureaucracy. it takes you so much longer -- >> i want to thank fema for helping our people. pres. trump: i am a builder. fema has a standard that is so slow they want permit on permit on permit and then they want permits on top of that. if you use fema, you will be here for a long time. i'm saying get the city and state to give you immediate 24 hour permits. these people that are going to build their own homes will get them built fast. how many of the people -- what are people going to do for financing?

percentagewise how many people can build a home where they don't have to go out and get funding? some people will not be able to rebuild their home. they have a beautiful home but don't have cash. what are people looking to do in that case? you will have a big percentage -- what will they do? go ahead. >> without their help they will only get $43,000 from the federal government even if they have -- >> you did something where every insurance company in the country left california so you have no insurance. you made it so impossible, and the people that think like you -- >> people like me? mr. president -- i don't know what you know about my thinking. pres. trump: i've never seen a state where almost no one has insurance. i said, what happened? six months ago they all left and

you have very little insurance here. >> we had a lot of insurance companies pullout. pres. trump: and they have been warning you. i'm not a big fan of insurance companies. they have drawbacks. but i read the papers and insurance companies have been warning california for a long time. they have been saying, you don't have water. the insurance company says -- you don't have any water in your fire hydrants. it is a tough situation. i'm not a big fan of insurance companies. >> they are pulling out of florida as well. pres. trump: you lost your insurance companies six months ago because the state would not give them what they had to half. -- had to have. >> i'm from the california policy center. in the manner of fire prevention and the cost of rebuilding both

of which affect insurance rates, i think one thing another participant said and a reform you might consider it which could be an act of congress is the losers in environmentalist lawsuits pay the legal fees and i think that would be a big step in the right direction. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: the loser pays -- i love that. if you did loser pays, you could cut your courts to about 90%. and medical would also benefit. if you had "loser pays" for medical, you could cut it down to 50%. the only problem is the strongest lobbyist in the world is the lawyer lobby. when you go back to your local congressman, hello, congressman --how about going against the lawyers?

loser pays is a good idea. they use it in certain parts of europe and they have little litigation. >> i represent the 27th congressional district on the north side of the san fernando valley. i wanted to tell you a story of her wisdom. yesterday we had another big fire, several fires and this one was moving fast. 1000 feet per minutes. what these heroes did come of the sheriff's and law enforcement officials, they mobilized 4000 people in six hours. they mobilized 20 air attack aircraft and same -- and they saved as sidey. -- a city. the thing that we all, and i'm

encouraged by your words, we are all here to help the folks here. your words about building quickly, building well is what i think we are all here to do. i think if we can take that spirit out of today, it is important that you and your wife are here and if we can take that spirit, we will help the people as quickly as possible get back on their feet and create the communities. pres. trump: "spirit" is such an important word. all of a sudden they will start looking for houses and the whole thing will blow up. these people want to get going and this could go quickly but you don't want to take away their spirit. you are 100% right. thank you. >> [indiscernible] i want to make you aware of something.

when the insurance company gives you a check, they offer you 2% interest on the money. the treasury is 4%. they are expanding the margin on the back. could you talk to the ceo of the bank of america. pres. trump: the bank of america is not nice. it sounds nice. >> will you ask the banks to pay -- pres. trump: is that leonard boxer next to you? there is skip. i have not seen you in a long time. are you still a good golfer? and a good guy.

hi, skip. you have them all. leonard and skip. >> i just want to say paradise is coming back because of the help you gave us. thank you for that. that is why we are here. we want to help -- pres. trump: what a fire that was. you had many people that were found and only a certain type of german shepherd could even find them. the dog would go right up and there was a body. and the incineration was so horrible. >> and we see the same devastation -- pres. trump: paradise is going good. >> we are coming back. we want to help our brothers and sisters in l.a. also. from parasite -- from paradise to the palisades the problem is

fuel. the vegetation, the dry grasses. there is a tremendous amount of edge. pres. trump: you have to remove it. even now, we flew over the fire and you have a lot of dry stuff, bone dry. i predicted this seven years ago. i said get it done and everybody laughed. forest management -- they said it was such a funny term. it isn't funny anymore and we were right. >> it is the number one cause of the fires. pres. trump: you wouldn't have any fires. >> if we just removed these regulations, they get in the way of us doing the projects. pres. trump: it is all a con job. >> there is a creek in my district and the review stopped

us for 18 months. we need to make sure that never happens again. we have to stop those things from happening. pres. trump: it will happen here unless you are strong as a group of people and demand that you have the right to go onto your property and start the process immediately like tomorrow. how many people did i see on your street standing in front of their lot -- there isn't much demolition, it is incinerated. it is not like you have three stories worth of concrete. it is all in said rated -- it is all incinerated. if you can do that, you will see this go like wildfire and if you don't -- even -- people are going to leave sherry as much as

you love your location and your housing sites, they are going to leave and find other things. they won't put up with it. they have spirit now but they won't in a year. look, i'm going to give you everything you want and more than any president would've given you. most presidents wouldn't be here, certainly not after three days. i can tell you that. [applause] and we are going to override all of the permitting. the only thing you have to do is get your estate people, that is so easy to do. i know the mayor and she is working hard but she has powerful emergency petitions. you can petition quickly. i hope you can get them. it is rare the federal government would be ahead of the state government.

federal permits are much tougher. you already have your permits. you can just go and go wild. as soon as you can get the permits, mayor, if you can put the genius of euros to work in your department you will be doing much better than some of the things that you said. mayor, could i just leave you what that? it is a big permitting deal. we will be back and i will put rick in charge representing me until we figure out who we want to do it, whether we want a commission or an individual. if you have a really good individual, and they are rare, if you do, it is always better than it commission. a commission gets bogged down. if you had the right individual and i know we do. we have a lot of great individuals in the community. it is an honor to be with you

and to be with your firemen and policemen. we have met some great people. these are leaders and it is a fantastic group of people and they were very brave. fire people are so well thought of dust you had big fires and it was hard to put them out but boy were they brave. everyone in the country knows it. everyone in the country knows it. and it was an honor to be with you. i will be back. we will work very hard. i hope you can start your cleanup tomorrow at 12:00. thank you, all, very much. [applause] pres. trump: thank you, everybody. thank you, brad.

nice to meet you. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: you are right. [indiscernible conversations] pres. trump: it is going to work out. congratulations. thank you. [indiscernible conversations]

>> it is an honor to meet you. >> nice to see you again.

[indiscernible conversations] >> it is hard to debate a guy

that is president of the united states. [applause] [indiscernible conversations] [cheering]

[indiscernible conversations]

>> thank you. you are the supervisor? >> democracy it isn't just an idea. it is a process. a process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few when guarding its basic principles. it's where