Jerry Brown to join Trump for Calif. visit to survey wildfire damage

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) and his successor, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), will join President Trump for a tour of areas damaged by wildfires in the state on Saturday, the governor announced.

“Now is a time to pull together for the people of California,” Brown said in a statement Friday, announcing he and Newsom, who last week won election to be the state’s next governor, would join Trump for the tour.

Trump has criticized the state’s management of forest growth and debris as officials respond to multiple wildfires raging across California that have destroyed thousands of homes and left as many as 56 dead.{mosads}

“With proper Forest Management, we can stop the devastation constantly going on in California. Get Smart!” the president tweeted last week.

The White House announced on Thursday that Trump would travel to California to tour burned areas and meet with first responders, a day after Trump appeared to change his tune on social media and offered support for Brown, a vocal critic of the president, amid the fires.

On Wednesday, Trump said that he had spoken with the governor “to let him know that we are with him, and the people of California, all the way!”

White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said the president will “meet with individuals impacted by the wildfires,” but the Trump administration has offered no other details about the trip.

Trump has also faced criticism from firefighting groups in the state, including the California Professional Firefighters (CPF), which blasted his previous comments on the fires as “ill-informed” in a statement last week.

“The president’s message attacking California and threatening to withhold aid to the victims of the cataclysmic fires is ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines,” CPF President Brian Rice said.