Trump hits California officials over wildfires: ‘You’ve got to clean your floors’

President Trump on Thursday took aim at California officials as wildfires burned in the Bay Area, accusing leaders of improperly managing flammable debris in state forests leading to fires.

During a speech in Pennsylvania, the president blamed the wildfires on “years” of poor forest management in California.

“And I see again, the forest fires are starting,” Trump said. “They’re starting again in California. And I said, you’ve got to clean your floors. You’ve got to clean your floors.”

“I’ve been telling them this now for three years, but they don’t want to listen,” he added.

Trump made similar comments last year, prompting California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to hit back by saying the president was unqualified to weigh in on fire safety due to his past remarks calling climate change a hoax.

“The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must ‘clean’ his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him,” Trump tweeted in November.

“You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation,” Newsom wrote back at the time.

You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation. https://t.co/PSt8N39Er5

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) November 3, 2019

Newsom has blamed the current wave of fires on extraordinary weather in the state, noting that California has recorded more than 11,000 lightning strikes over the past 72 hours.