funding all this stuff. we should fund even more of it to make sure more people's lives can be saved. god bless all of them. >> whoo! i love that. >> the coast guard, all these rescue organizations. >> now, for all of you dog lovers out there. a colorado uber driver has discovered the secret to getting five stars. it's this guy. kevin fuhrman has his rescue pup named bowie with him. he often wears a bow tie. he's turned into a local celebrity. his passengers love to pet and take pics with him. that is a definite five star in my book right there. also five star fox news sunday. this weekend we've got senator tom cotton, who is now the chair of the senate intel committee, and we've also got democrat senator blumenthal with us. we've got much to discuss, and we're going to find out if they get these people across the line on the confirmations. they're stuck with us in washington this weekend. that makes it good for our show. >> jesse watters primetime. that's it. >> for us. have a great night. >> fox news alert president trump speaking at a fire station in la. let's listen in.

>> there was a bad experience somehow, and i did. and i got along great with the olympic committee. and we got the olympics. and then we got you the world cup. that one i focused on with johnny. johnny was great, the head of it. and so you have that coming. and then we have the 250 years coming up, which is going to be a great celebration. but i'll never forget when i got the olympics and then i got the i was president when i got them and i said, oh boy, it's too bad i won't be president. who knew this was going to happen, right? i said, i won't be president because it would have been the four years, and in fact, i'd be retired by four days right now, i guess. right? so anyway, so i got him, and at least i'll be able to celebrate the olympics, the world cup, and the 250 years is going to be a very big deal. so we have the three biggest there are. and it was an honor to get. if you have any questions, please let me know. and if you have a

statement to make, i'd love to have politically. if you'd like to make a statement, brad. go ahead, mr. president. okay. >> mr. president, thank you for coming. thank you to the 32nd congressional district. and thank you for making feel. most people don't have adequate insurance because they couldn't get it. one company dropped 1600 policies just in the last six months. we've got 16 times as much property damage here as from hawaii. and i'm hoping that we get at least 16 times the federal appropriation for the cdbg program that helps people rebuild. and i know you've talked about policies of california that you're not a fan of, but i've been in congress for 28 years. i really disagree with louisiana on their abortion policy. i disagree with them on their campaign finance policy. i disagree with north dakota on their gun policy, and i would

never turn to somebody from louisiana and say, you keep, you keep living on your cousin's couch because we are not going to help you rebuild until louisiana agrees with me on a woman's right to choose. so i am hoping that we can get these funds and that 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. >> mr. president? >> mayor, please. >> let me officially welcome you to los angeles. you come just a few days after the inauguration. so your presentation here is very appreciated. i know you had an opportunity to see the devastation, and you

have seen the extreme loss and grief that people are going through here. and we are 100 percent committed to getting this neighbourhood rebuilt again. you mentioned a couple of things in terms of us expediting -- so i signed executive directives right away so that we could cut the red tape and get people back building as fast as possible, and we are going to continue to do that. >> they are saying they will not be allowed to start for 18 months. >> that will not be the case. you can hold me to it. >> president trump: four groups said that. they should be able to start tonight. >> that will not be the case. you know first, we have to take care to make sure that we get rid of the hazardous waste and cleaning things up so people can start right away. if someone -- their house was destroyed and they are going to rebuild, essentially, the same, a little bit longer or higher, they shouldn't have to go through much of a process.

so i want you to know that we are expediting that, and we absolutely need your help. we need the federal help. >> president trump: you will have no permit problem. there will be zero delay. and as far as i am concerned, you already have the permits. >> and the resources. >> president trump: i am more worried -- because i met at least groups of home owners and you know, i am much more worried about the fact that they said it is 18 months exactly. and they were devastated. they want to start now. they want to start removing things. they are not allowed to do it now. you mentioned hazardous waste. hazardous waste -- what is hazardous waste. you are going to have to define that. are we going through a series of questions on determining what is hazardous waste. >> nope, nope. nope. >> president trump: you have to allow people to go on their site and start the process tonight. >> and we will. >> president trump: good. >> you can come back and check. >> mr. president, i am congress

member judy chu and i represent altadena and pasadina. i know that you have gone to the pallisades and seen the devastation, but it is apocalyptic in altadena. we are working to help people get back to normal and to rebuild but right now, they have nothing. and there have been 9500 structures burned. most of the deaths have occurred in our area of the eaton fire. and thousands of people are without homes. and these are working people. these are working class people. they are people like dr. jackie jacobs, who was an educator all her life and finally became the first black administrator of her educational institution pasadina

city college. now retired, 88 years old, her home of 30 years burned in pasadina. she has nothing. she left with the clothes on her back. she has nothing. they need this help. and i want to make sure that you remember the people in altadena and pasadina and you can come there and see how terrible the devastation has been there so they can get the help that they need. >> president trump: just remember one thing: and i like the way that you express yourself, beautifully, actually. but i have only been here three days. and i will do a great job. but we had another president, and this took place during the life of another president, not me. but i am going to be the president that is going to help you fix it, because he would not have been able to help you fix it. okay. so we will take care of this.

we will take care of this and work closely -- we will work closely. and i know your community was incredibly devastated. we understand that. >> appreciate that. >> i am going to follow up. and i represent altadena, and what i tell people is the people of altadena are the exact people you talked to when you were running. you have individuals from every walk of life. and it is the -- actually -- at one time was the only place that african americans could purchase homes, it was red lined. so you have generational wealth there. and one of the commitments that i have made -- and we have had meetings with some people, to work with them and work with your administration to see how we can help, and i have been pleasantly surprised. i know that we have some asks that we are going to be working with -- with you on. but more importantly, i want to

emphasize what congress woman chu said. these are individuals who are feeling forgotten. and what i tell them in, is when we invited you out here, i told -- when i went to the ama church, this president was talking to you when he was running. you understand the difficulty in making ends meet. you understand the high cost of living. and now, their biggest fear is that that is going to impact their ability to rebuild. i have made them this commitment because this is my last term. you talk about 18 -- 18 months, i have told our county staff that if you are going to get in the way, get another job. because we are an all hands on deck -- [ applause ] >> and quite frankly, if the bureaucracy can't get out of the way, we will roll over it. we have said that and made it clear. the governors waved sequa, which

i feel should be completely reformed, if not eliminated. and if it is being eliminated for this. >> president trump: how are they doing with sequa. >> it adds years to an application. >> president trump: can't do it. and coastal commission also. >> he waved that. >> president trump: we are going to have to override the coastal commission. i have dealt with that for a long time and they are the most difficult in the entire country. and we can not have them play their games and wait 10 years to give someone a permit. i will override them, and not let them get away with their antics. thank you. thank you. >> mr. president, thank you for your leadership on california water policy. you made it a priority on day

one. we have wild fires, california is a wild fire prone area. ensuring stable water supply is critical. your leadership and executive order, moving more water and maximizing flows, building more water storage and more conveyance. >> it would have an unbelievable impact on your area. >> absolutely. we want to thank you for making it a priority. >> president trump: even beyond the fire stuff, the farms. i was driving up with congressmen a few years ago, because they were complaining they didn't have water. i was driving up, and we were seeing this incredible land but it was bone dry. and then you will see little green patches. and the green patches are so beautiful. they have that land -- they say it is as good as iowa farm land, but it has no water. and it is artificial -- has no water. they send it into the pacific ocean. and when the water comes through the valleys, you are going to have a different place.

it is going to be a whole different place. and you guys have to get together and say, gee, we want it. it is the craziest thing we have 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. and it is among the best -- they say it is the best farm land in the country. as good as any place there is. but it is no good without water. today we are talking about fire. but it is good for everything. so i hope that you can lead a group. and daryl, i hope that you can support what i am doing. because what i am doing, i guess is controversial. i don't know what is controversial about sending millions of -- millions and millions of gallons of beautiful fresh water from the pacific northwest and further up than even that into an area that is bone dry.

we have to -- i have a house in beverly hills, and we get notices that they want us to go down to 38 gallons per house or her person. i say, i mean, you can only have -- 38 gallons sounds like a lot. it is not a lot. and they want to do that every once in a while. you think it is ridiculous. you have just about as much water as anyone in the country. you shouldn't have tumble weed as dry as a bone. even tumble weed can be rich and loaded up with water, and it is not going to burn. but it is just dry. so i hope that you can get together and say, i am so happy with the water that is going to be flowing down because -- i don't see anything they talk about the delta smelt which is this big, but it is really not -- does it have to be protected because it is in numerous other areas.

the people of california have to be protected. >> mr. president, could i just speak for a moment. >> kevin kylie. >> i have introduced legislation to rain them in. >> president trump: they are out of control. >> absolutely out of control. it is insane the things that they have been getting away with. >> president trump: i think they thrive on it. it is so ridiculous. >> they even try to stop spacex from launching rockets. you mentioned that joe biden didn't fix the situation, and you are absolutely right. and during the caldor fire 600 people lost their homes. he came and promised to help them out. but he broke the promise many times, he never delivered them the individual assistance they were asking for. so this has underscored the importance of helping the victims and making sure every fire we get money to the victims

and make sure nothing stands in the way of that. but i want to thank you for your focus on bringing sanity to california, water and fire policy. there is no place that needs a revolution and common sense quite like california. >> president trump: you have so much water! use it. and be happy about it. >> mr. president, my name is joel palek. and i am a journalist, but i happy to live in the pacific pallisades, as do other colleagues. one wrote the song "fighter" that you played at your campaign rallies. he lost his house, the one that he wrote the song in. there was no water in the pipes in my house. 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 there was a bucket of baseballs, and i dumped the

baseballs on the ground and used the bucket. but there was still no water, except for the water in the gutter coming from the burnt homes up hill. so i went to and fro to my gutter and my fence with my bucket. two guys showed up in a truck. two neighbours. we found two more buckets. bucket after bucket after bucket -- many of my neighbours including some here tried to fight the fires. they couldn't. we were lucky our house was saved. but we should not have to rely on buckets to put out a fire. >> president trump: that's right. >> you can't stop an 80 miles per hour wind or 100 miles per hour wind but there were things that went wrong here that are basic and small. we did not have traffic police to guide the evacuation. so there was grid lock on sunset. they have removed the vehicles now. but there were dozens of vehicles abandoned by drivers that fled for their lives because there was no traffic cops available. the fire department was not

predeployed, even though there was an extreme wind event coming. and many of my neighbours lost their fire insurance in the days before the blaze. so i asked my neighbours 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? can you make california change its rules so when we build again we can get fire insurance and we don't have to worry. and there is one other point to make. i appreciate my congressman advocating for money, we need the money from the federal government. but i understand americans that are tired of spending money on california and disasters happen. and california government passes $50 million to oppose your policies. so they have 50 million for that but not for moving people into

rental homes or helping people relocate or rebuild. i want to ask you to follow the 911 commission, and appoint a special master to watch the money -- to make sure that every federal dollar that is spent here is spent on fire relief and rebuilding and not on everything else. [ applause ]. >> president trump: good idea. this is a good one right over here. i don't know -- >> he is very busy. >> president trump: an ambassador to germany, he was fantastic. i put him in charge of a high level of intelligence and intelligent people but they were not intelligent enough to fool him. but rick has been fantastic and he lives here. and i don't know if you want to either think about it or recommend some people or get together and recommend some people as a group which is fine. but rick is someone that i would

certainly consider. and bregbort is fantastic by the way. and i was so impressed with the fire fighters i met before. and they said that you know, i asked them, how many of the pumps -- how many of the hydrants were working and it was a large percentage of them were not working at all. they had no water. and the ones that did have water didn't have a lot of pressure. and one of the things that was missing -- many people have sprinklers in your living room, and bathroom and kitchen. if those worked with pressure, you would have had a much different outcome. we are going to work on that. in terms of that -- rick grunell would be good. or you can head up a group of people that could recommend a few people to me. we are talking about a lot of money. the other is kelly laufler is now the head of small business -- and small business

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

depressing day, but it was a beautiful day because the spirit is so incredible. north carolina and here, very similar situation. different -- so different and yet so similar, actually. and so i just thought it was very nice. she wanted to be here, and i appreciate her. [ applause ]. >> president trump: jay? [ inaudible question by media ]. >> president trump: is that local? you have to -- i don't want to be the only one do give you

permits like in one day and then i find out that the cities, the towns and the state is not going to give you permits. because -- you know the problem with permits, it only takes one. you might need 7 different permits. you shouldn't have any at this point. you should just let them build. and you are only as good as the weakest one. if you have one that will hold you up and the others will give it to you in 24 hours, it will not help you very much. so they have to work on that. [ inaudible question by media ]. >> president trump: that's what everybody said. >> let me just tell you that we are going to do everything we can, slashing regulations, expediting everything so that people can begin the process right away. you know we have the disaster recovery centre on peco and westwood. people are contacting the local agencies. we are bringing our city departments together so people aren't caught in the loop of going from one room to the next.

we want them all to be in the same room so you can get busy rebuilding asap. [ inaudible question by media ] >> absolutely. yes. yes. and we will clear the lots. absolutely. in the city and in the county. we are working together, both levels of government are working in unity. [ inaudible question by media ]. >> yes. >> president trump: six months is no good. >> and the number one thing that we are going to do immediately, and you will see this happen is to clear out the debris. and you know we are concerned right now over the weekend because of the potential rain but we are going to move as fast as we can, but we want you to be safe. and we want you to be back in your homes, immediately.

>> president trump: but the people are willing to clean out their own debris. it doesn't cost a lot. by the time you hire contractors it is going to be two years. >> if a family -- >> president trump: if people are willing to get a dumpster and do it themselves and clean it out -- >> they can do that. >> president trump: there is not much left, it is all incinerated -- you can do some of it. but i know that guy right there that is talking -- i know my people. you will be on the thing tonight, throwing the stuff away tonight and it will look perfect within 24 hours. and that's what he wants to do. he doesn't want to wait for 7 months until the city hires a city demolisher, to charge him $25,000 to do his lot. you have emergency powers like i do, and i am exercising my emergency powers. you have to exercise them also. >> i did them exercise them. >> president trump: you have a very powerful emergency power and you can do everything within 24 hours.

>> yes. and if individuals want to clear out their property, they can. [ inaudible question by media ]. >> yes, but you know that you will be able to go back soon. we think within a week. >> president trump: that's a long time, a week. i will be honest. everyone standing in front of their house, they want to go to work. >> the most important thing is for people to be safe. >> president trump: they are safe. they are not safe now. they are going to be much safer -- a week is actually a long time the way i look at it. i 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 is done. nothing is going to happen to it. there is nothing to burn. there is almost nothing to burn. and they want to go in. the people are all over the place. they are standing and i say, why aren't you going in, we are trying to get a permit. and the permit is going to take

them -- everyone said 18 months. you said 18 months. you said 18 months. and that was last night. >> mr. president we are going to be together next week. and many of us are involved in -- and we are going to be putting conditions on the money that 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 6,000 acres burning in my district on the mexican border. there will be more fires until we include, in any disaster relief, items which will prevent or at least mitigate it from happening again. so you will see us proposing

both of those. >> president trump: like, like water. little things like water. >> we will do that for them. >> president trump: the party of common sense. we are the party of common sense. you are not in all fairness. >> yes, sir. >> president trump: we like water to put out fires. it is quite efficient. >> thank you, mr. president. >> mr. president, my district is a bit east of here. >> yep. >> you were talking about the need to better manage the forests and the wild lands to prevent this from happening again. and you were so right about that. just last year, they put out a fire, in my district it was over twice as big as the palisades fire. they put it out in an area where we had done thinning they stopped the fire on a fire break that we had built a couple of years ago. we had an area on the other side of my community that has not 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. mr. president we need to -- in addition to getting resources and boots on the ground to do this treatment, we need to reform the legal system to prevent these lawsuits from tying up these projects for years and years and years. and not to say that they shouldn't be heard, but we need to resolve them. >> president trump: is this a state group, state or federal group? >> this is a local group, mr. president. but they have help from the state. >> president trump: they use the environment to make themselves feel good and they are destroying our country. and you have to -- at some point you have to put your foot down. you have local and state groups and federal groups too. and you have to fight them the right way because even the mayor will give you a local group coming through. they want to clean out their

property. and it will be more beautiful than before. and i would do one other thing. i would give them a 10%, 15% bonus on the house. because they went through hell and they should be able to do a little bit. give them a bonus on size, maybe a little bonus on height. they went through hell. some of them had houses where they were restricted. they have to to have an 8 foot ceiling. you let them have a 10 foot ceiling. i think it would be very well received because they will be able to build a little bit nicer house. do you like that idea, by the way? they deserve it. this fire could have been stopped. it is not the homeowner's fault. and they should be entitled to a

bonus on their house. >> thank you. some good news from paradise. we stood together there six years ago, along with the governor. 3400 homes have been rebuilt out of the 18,000 loss and there are 400 more in the wings. my colleague here, probably a similar situation. they are probably going to clear a foot worth of soil to get the toxicity out. >> president trump: we did a good job with those people. that was the old days when fima was good. that was when we ran it. it was very good but now it is not good. >> we have to get them on track. >> thank you for your strong efforts on the water. lake shafts is dumping more water than what is coming in. and so is folsom lakes.

we are latter january here. and there is not -- you can't count on the rain and snow coming every year. if we don't fill those projects, my colleague is not going to get his water for his farmers. they aren't going to do it. and those going to southern california. >> president trump: you don't need reservoirs, you have so much water you don't need it. you only have reservoirs because you tried to hold water but you have natural water coming down along the coast. for a million years, it has been coming. you know that, right? in addition to that, you have a lot of half pipe. so you have the half pipe that is built. and it hasn't been used. it is bone dry. no water has been in that half pipe by years and years. closed up years ago.

>> 40 acre feet out of 60,000. >> president trump: it has been empty for a long time. it shouldn't have been empty. okay. any other questions? yes, please. >> mr. president, my name is tracy park, i represent the people of the pacific palisades. thank you for your loyal support to the military, our police officers, and especially our fire fighters. >> i want to get these people home as soon as possible and open up the pathway to the rebuilding process. the engineering core said it would be 18 months. i am fully committed to doing my

part on the ground with our state and agency partners to speed this up. i ask for your ongoing partnership with fima and the epa and our other federal agencies to make sure that we have a commitment to cross all layers of government to get these people back home. >> thank you, sir. >> president trump: thank you. well said. fima is a big disappointment. we had great people. it is not good any more. what they did in north carolina, they have not even gone to certain areas. they don't know what they are doing. and i say, you don't need fima. you need a good state government. when you have a problem in los angeles or a problem even in the state of california, you have your own -- essentially fima. you fix it yourself. you don't have someone coming in from a state that has no idea. you have people staying in alaska. but by the time they get familiar with it, they don't

know anything. fima is an expensive -- in my opinion, mostly failed situation. we had great people. we did good jobs. but each state should take care of their problem and get money from the federal government. it would be so much better as opposed more efficient. we are looking at that, because we have had -- you are going to have problems with fima too. fima doesn't even show up. it takes weeks before they even show up. and what happens is the state then relies on fima and nobody does it. it is not a good situation. so we will make some recommendations and then -- but you have to push like hell to get the permits. i am just hearing things that i don't like to hear. i think you are not going to get your permits as fast as people are saying. we have to get them. and mayor, if i can help you at all in that regard, let me know. but you will have the federal permits. that is going to be the easiest part and that's by far the

hardest part. i already have the approval for the water and that's usually a long process but that's -- the hard part was the federal. but we have that done. anything i can do, please let me know. please go ahead. [ inaudible question by media ]. >> you lost your four schools? were they completely burned down the schools?

wow? all of them? >> pretty much all of them, yeah. [ inaudible question by media ]. >> we can't live there if there is no schools. that's an area where we would love your help and support. i would love the idea of having some you know local council that can use those federal dollars, implement them quickly into rebuilding those areas. >> president trump: i will ask rick to -- i think right from this table -- you might put a couple of the fire guys on that i just met. because they are really good. but get a group and figure out how we can do the processing faster. >> mr. president, if i could defend fima a little bit. >> president trump: yeah. >> they brought thousands of people in -- i don't know how they are doing in other states. they are doing a good job for us here. they have a huge centre that is open from 9 in the morning until 8 at night.

but also when you have a disaster this size, you need to be able to deploy thousands of people which they have been able to do. california, maybe we would have thousands of people if we did it on our own. but if rhode island had a disaster? >> president trump: how many million people do you have here? you have 40 million people -- you are not going to get a few thousand people? fima comes from all over the country. they end up with arguments with people from california because they want to do it a totally different way. i can live either way. but you have not gotten much done with fima. look at north carolina, it is one of the greatest disasters of all time. >> you can't have rhode island maintain a staff of thousands and thousands of people wait to go see if they have a disaster. >> president trump: you know who came in and fixed north carolina, people from all over the country came.

you have a lot of people from all over the country. getting the people is not a problem. getting the organization -- it is a big problem. fima is incompetently run and it costs three times more than it should. we should spend more money on schools than bureaucracy. it takes you so much longer -- >> mr. president -- >> president trump: it takes so much longer. fima has a standard, brad. and i was a very good builder, fima has a standard that is so slow -- they want permit on permit on permit and then permits on top of that. if you use fima you will be here for a long time. what i am saying is, get the city -- get the state to give you immediate 24 hour permits. these people will build their own homes. they will build them fast. can i ask you one question, how many of the people -- what are people going to do for financing? how many people can build a

percentage wise -- like where they don't have to go out and get funds? some people are just not going to be able to rebuild their home because they have a beautiful home but they don't have cash, right. so what are peoplic although -- people looking to do in that case. what are they going to do? go ahead. >> mr. president, without your help, they are only going to get $43,000 from the federal government, even if they have a half a million dollar loss. >> president trump: with every insurance company in the company, they left california, that's why you have no insurance. you made it so impossible. people that think like you made it so impossible. >> mr. president -- i don't know what you know about my thinking. >> president trump: i have never seen a state where almost nobody has insurance. and i said what happened, and they said like six months ago they all left. and two years ago, they had different quadrants. but they left. and you have very little

insurance here. i have never seen anything like it. >> we have had a lot of insurance companies pull out. >> president trump: and insurance companies have been warning you. now i am not a big fan of insurance companies, okay. they have their big drawbacks too. but the insurance companies -- i read the papers very well, and they have been warning california for a long time. they have also been saying, we want water. you are supposed to get fire insurance and the insurance company goes, you don't have any water in your fire hydrants. so it is a tough situation. i am not a big fan of insurance companies. i get that. >> they are pulling out of florida as well. >> president trump: you lost your insurance companies six months ago because the state wouldn't give them what they had to have. >> mr. president, i remember -- >> president trump: go ahead. >> i am ed rang from the california policy centre. and in the matter of prevention of fires and the cost of rebuilding, both of which

effective insurance rates -- one, to support something that another participant said, a reform that you might consider, it might be an act of congress is that the losers in environmentalist lawsuits face the legal fees. that would be a big step in the right direction. >> president trump: what's that? >> the loser of the lawsuit should pay. >> president trump: loser pays. i love that. if you did loser pays, you could cut the courts about 90%. loser pays, and medical. if you had loser pays for medical, your medical costs would go down by 50%. that's an interesting thing -- you know i would bring that up. but the only problem, the strongest lobby in the world, you know what it is, the lawyer lobby. so when you go back to your congressman how about going against the lawyer for a little while. loser pays, very good.

in certain parts of europe they use it and they have little litigation. yes, please. >> mr. president, i represent the 27th congressional district which is on the north side of the north sanfernando valley. yesterday we had another big fire. several big fires across. and this fire was moving fast. it was moving a thousand feet per minute. but what these heros did, the fire fighters and the sheriffs and the law enforcement officials they mobilized 4,000 people, within about 6 hours, they mobilized 20 air attack aircraft and helicopters and they saved the city of castaic. so i wanted you to recognize those heros. >> president trump: i love that. i love that. [ applause ]. >> i think the thing that we all -- and i am very encouraged by your words, we are all here

to help the folks here. >> president trump: yep. that's right. >> your words about building quickly, building well, but building quickly is what we are all here to do. and i think if we can take that spirit out of today, it is really important that you and your wife are here, if we can take that spirit, we are going to help these people as quickly as possible, and get them back on their feet and create these amazing communities. >> president trump: the word "spirit" is an important word. you will take their guts away if you don't give them the permit. they are going to say, oh, all of a sudden they will look for houses and you know, the whole thing will blow up on you. these people want to get going. this place can go quickly, but you don't want to take their spirit away. so you are 100 percent right. yes, sir? thank you. >> i want to make you aware of something that i know you know a

thing or two about. the banks when the insurance company gives you the cheque on the name of the mortgage company and you, they offer you 2% interest on that money. the treasuries are 4%. expanding that interest margin on the back of victims. could you please -- just like you talked to the ceo and the bank of america. >> president trump: you noticed that. look at this guy, bank of america. they are not nice. sounds very nice. the bank of america, they are not nice. >> would you tell the banks to pay us treasury for the money that the insurance sets aside? >> president trump: well, we are starting to do -- we are doing numbers on banks, yeah. is that leonard boxer next to you? and we have skip. i have them all here. look at skip, i have not seen you in a long time. you used to be a very good golfer. are you still a good golfer? >> not bad. >> president trump: and a good guy too. we have them all, huh.

leonard and skip. >> paradise is coming back because of the help that you gave us. we want to thank you for that. that's why we are here also. we want to help our -- >> president trump: we did a good job with paradise. what a fire that was. >> it was a terrible fire. >> president trump: many people were found and only the -- certain kind of german shepherd could find it. the dog would go right up, there is the body. and the incineration was so horrible. >> we see the same devastation. >> president trump: but paradise is coming good. >> we want to help our brothers and sisters to come back here in la too. and i know that's what you are going to do. so we appreciate that. from paradise to the palisades, the problem is fuel. the vegetation, the dry grasses,

it is -- there is a tremendous amount of it. >> president trump: you have to remove it. and you have to remove it and do the other things that we have said ten times. you have to remove it. you just can't have it. even now i saw the fire. we flew over it. you have a lot of dry stuff. it is bone dry. and i predicted this 7 years ago. i said do it. get it done. and everybody laughed. they thought it was -- i said forest management -- they thought it was a funny term. haha, that's so funny. but they were not right. number one cost of fires. >> if we removed those environmental regulations. they get in the way of us doing the projects. >> president trump: it is all a con job. >> jesse: stopped them from doing a fuel reduction project. they said 18 months. that's where it comes from.

because 18 months on a review, that community is no longer here today because of the north complex fire. we need to make sure that never happens again. we have to stop those things from happening. so we don't have -- >> president trump: it will happen here unless you are very strong as a group of people and demand that you have the right to go on to your property and start the process immediately like tomorrow. how many people did i see on your street where they are stand not guilty -- standing in front of their lot. it is not like you have three storeys worth of concrete. it is all incinerated and all of the people were standing there and they were not allowed on their lot. you have to let them do it. if you can do it, you are going to see this go like wild fire. if you don't -- you are going to have lots for years. because people are going to leave. as much as you love your location and your place and you are in the real estate business. as much as you love your location and your site, your

house -- housing sites -- they are going to leave. they are going to find other things. they are not going to put up with it. just harness it. look, i think i am going to give you anything you want. i am going to give you more than any other president would have given you. most presidents wouldn't be here. i can tell you that. and we are going to override all the permitting. the only thing you have to do is get your state people which should be very easy because that is literally so easy to do. the mayor has powerful emergency -- it is called an emergency petition. and you can petition quickly, and it is very rare that the federal government would be ahead of the state government. because the federal government -- the federal

permits are much tougher. but you essentially have the permits. you can just go and go wild. brad, as soon as you can get those permits, whatever you can do, if you can put that genius of yours to work -- you will be doing better than some of the other things that you have said. and we do appreciate you. so mayor, could i just leave you with that? it is a big permitting deal. we are going to be back and we are going to -- i am going to put rick in charge of just representing me for a period of time until we figure out exactly who we want to do it, whether we want a commission or an individual. if you have a good individual, if you have a really good individual, and they are rare, but if you have a really good individual it is always better than a commission. because a commission -- gets bogged down, right? so if you had the right individual, and i know we do. we have a lot of great individuals in this community. but it is an honour to be with you. it was an honour to be with your

firemen before and policemen. we met great people. and these are people that are leaders and they are just fantastic -- it is a fantastic group of people. and they were very brave. i want to tell you, your fire people are so well thought of. you had big fires and it was hard to put them out. but boy, they were brave. they were fighting against a tough thing. and everyone in the country knows it. everyone in the country knows it. [ applause ]. >> president trump: it was an honour to be with you. so i will be back. and we will work very hard. and i hope that you guys can start doing your clean up starting tomorrow at around 12 o'clock. thank you all very much. thank you. thanks, brad. >> jesse: that was donald trump at a fire station in the pacific palisades, doing a round table with local political officials saying we can't have a golden age without the golden state and promising to wave all federal

permits. says he talked to a lot of fire victims. they said they are not selling or moving. they want to rebuild. but it is a permitting issue. and at one point there was a big confrontation between the president and mayor bass who said, you know what, they can come back and start in a week. donald trump said, no, that's not going to happen. we don't have a week. don't crush their spirit. just a tremendous amount of transparency between the president, the first lady and all of these local officials. this is how we should do everything. let's bring in justinebateman. your first impression. >> i like what pollock said, there has to be oversight. because our tax dollars have fell through the state level's fingers. so i like that. >> president trump: at one point there was a discussion that there should be a special master appointed to watch the cash. and he just turned to the left

and said maybe rick could oversee it along with these firemen that i spoke to. >> you know another thing that is a problem in california are the tax incentives for film making that gavin nusome has made impossible to get at. and so many people work in the film business and they are starved for work right now. one of the great things that trump could do right now is release grants for film making and get los angeles on its feet. >> president trump: there was an insane moment where one of the democratic senators was saying that fima is doing a great job. and they talked about overhauling fima. >> sounded like he wanted to eliminate it. i thought he said that. >> jesse: get rid of it because it is a bunch of bureaucrats

that crash with the locals. it was talking about getting state to handle things and getting reimbursed by the feds later. it was a spectacle to see the politicians defend their positions and formulate new ideas on the fly. i don't think that we have seen anything like that in the history of natural disaster recovery. >> it is true. but it is sad for -- you know californians. newsome wasn't invited, it seems. but los angeles people, trump almost tutoring bass on how to do this. >> jesse: she was definitely in over her head, that's for sure. great having you on. and god bless the people suffering in southern california. >> jesse: yes. best selling author of "we who

wrestle with god," and founder of peterson academy, jordan peterson. these local officials are talking to the president and defending the indefensible. >> well, i guess we are going to see whether or not california and the u.s., north carolina in particular, whether the governments at the local level are capable of getting out of the way. because obviously with a disaster at this scale, anything that is top down isn't going to be able to work quickly. as trump repeatedly indicated what is necessary is that the people who own the properties are rapidly allowed access to them so they can clear them and then the responsibility for rebuilding be distributed among the widest number of people possible in the shortest period of time. that isn't -- it was very interesting watching trump talk to the other politicians. he is a builder and he has

extensive experience in the construction industry. and he knows what delays that might seem small to a bureaucrat, like a week, with people that are rearing to go. he is like no, we need to let people on their property to clean it up by themselves, today. and if that's not obvious to you, as a politician, all that means is that you don't know what the hell that you are doing. so we are going to see, we are going to see if la, and california can shake itself out of the bureaucratic ways and respond in the ways that americans can respond to disasters like this and build like mad. so... >> jesse: you are right. when you have a president who is a former developer, and he is talking about getting rid of the coastal commission, all the litigation, the mayor, and her permitting process -- it is like he has better understanding of how to rebuild this part of the country than they do. and i hope that he wins. because if not people are going

to be standing inside in front of a burnt out lot for weeks. >> well or yeah months or years. like, he doesn't, in some ways he doesn't even want to rebuild it. he wants people to get the hell out of the way so it can rebuilt locally. and that's the only way it is going to happen. >> jesse: all right. we will see how powerful this bureaucracy is in southern california is soon. thank you for sticking around and waiting that out. fox news alert, pete hegseth arrived on capital hill. let's go over to chad. >> jesse, good evening. it is pretty rare to have a nominee for any cabinet secretary position come to capital hill for his or her own confirmation rote but that happened tonight when he came in with his kids and his wife jennifer. he is off the senate floor right now. we asked him whether or not he

would be meeting with senators. he did not respond to that question. right now we think that the vote is on a raiser's edge. a senior republican said they are feeling good but this is coming down to the wire. jd vance is not here yet. we were expecting him to come to break a possible tie vote on the floor. roger wicker, the republican senator from mississippi who has been charged with shepherding through the nomination is speaking through the floor right now. we know that they are going to lose two votes right now. and it appears that jd vance is arriving at the capital. if they lose one more vote it is 50/50 and you could have vance break a tie in the senate. there has been talks about the republican senator from north carolina, whether he is on the fence. guys back to you. >> jesse: chad, thanks.

let's bring in lisa booth. and fox and friends weekend cohost charlie hurt. pete, he was the first one to go at the hearing. this confirmation vote should have happened by now. the democrats in the senate have just stretched things out to what? dump dirt on pete? >> yeah, and i think it is kind of interesting, especially with the backdrop of what we watched with president trump in california. there are serious problems in the country, and the idea that democrats are going to sit here and play games with the leader of the department of defence at a time when -- and i believe by the way, that -- republicans are far more confident that they are going to get this through than maybe they are letting on. if they gave the green light for pete to come, i think that he is going to get through. but i think it highlights how ridiculous and dangerous the games are that they are playing. >> jesse: the vote is officially

underway in the senate as we are speaking. >> he has to be confirmed. not just the things that you mentioned charlie. but there is war in the middle east and war in europe as well. so we have to have a secretary of defence at the helm there. and also what pete hegseth will do is important for the country. refocus the military on priorities. we have seen our country be diminished in the last four years under the biden administration. focussed on all the wrong things, diversity, equity and inclusion, instead of being the most lethal force in the world. and pete hegseth will get us back there. he has earned two bronze stars as a result of service and he will be intensely focussed on making sure that we fight wars again. >> jesse: he was an out of the box pick, had a good he few weeks. turned it around, home run hearing, if he can get through,

charlie, what does this say about the momentum for the rest of the cabinet? >> i would argue that every single hearing that we have had so far for every nominee, every one of the nominees will get through, starting with pete hegseth that was probably the toughest of the ones that have gone. but even -- there are all these issues that lisa mentioned that he has to deal with. but just recruitment alone -- if that's the thing that he solves, that is an existential crisis for us and he is the perfect man for that. >> jesse: we will see if it was effective or not. it looks like he might be able to make it through. thank you for watching. jesse watters primetime. sean hannity is up next. he will have the hegseth confirmation vote. have a great night. >> welcome to hannity. we have a fox news alert at this hour. donald trump is wrapping up a