LA Mayor Bass points fingers when grilled on Africa trip amid botched wildfire response
Los Angeles Mayor Bass reveals she is opening an investigation into why nobody told her not to travel to Africa
By Cameron Arcand Fox News
Published February 19, 2025 4:23pm EST
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who has come under intense scrutiny for traveling to Africa last month amid a botched fire response, is deflecting blame on the controversial trip.
"I felt absolutely terrible not being here for my city," Bass, a Democrat, told a Fox 11 Los Angeles reporter in a recent interview.
"Would I say it was a mistake, absolutely. The idea that I was not present was very painful," she added, saying that proper "preparation didn't happen" to notify her ahead of the Ghana trip.
She said she would not have even traveled south to San Diego had she been given the proper "preparation" about the fire danger.
"It didn’t reach that level to me to say 'Something terrible could happen and maybe you shouldn’t have gone on the trip,'" the Democrat added.
"I think that’s one of the things we need to look at, everything that happened, including that, needs to be examined," she continued, revealing that there are at least two investigations into the city's response to the fires.
The National Weather Service put out the "fire weather warning" on Jan. 3 and the mayor left for Africa the next day. She did not return until Jan. 8, according to Fox 11 LA.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/la-mayor-bass-points-fingers-when-grilled-africa-trip-botched-wildfire-response