Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass says she went to Ghana despite warnings of potential wildfires because ‘no one told her not to.’
Bass explained that the Biden administration asked her to go to the African country to represent the then-president.
Bizarrely, the Democrat lawmaker also revealed that she is now opening an investigation into why no one stopped her.
‘It was going to be a very short trip – over a weekend and two business days,’ she said on Fox 11.
‘We need to look at everything about the preparation and all of that for the fires… I think when we evaluate that, we will find that although there were warnings – that I frankly wasn’t aware of…
‘I think our preparation wasn’t what it typically is… That level of preparation really didn’t happen. If it had, I wouldn’t even have gone to San Diego, let alone leave the country.’
When pressed on why she was not aware of the warnings, Bass sought to pass the buck again and said ‘it didn’t reach that level to me. No one said you shouldn’t have gone on a trip.’
Her interview comes as it has been revealed that LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath sent a scorching text to mayor Karen Bass during the wildfires crisis, accusing her of leaving her out of a press briefing.
Horvath, 42, sent the text to her fellow Democrat on January 21, expressing anger that the mayor did not include her in a press briefing, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
‘You asked us to lay off the daily pressers. We did. We asked you to join us for this announcement tomorrow. No response. Now we hear you’re doing one without us today when we are in lead role at your Depts’ request?’ Horvath wrote.
‘Doesn’t feel very “locked arms” to me,’ she added, referencing Bass’ go-to phrase about working closely with other city officials.
Bass, 71, responded to the text five hours later, claiming she did now know which announcement Horvath was talking about, and asking for a sit-down talk that day.
Former West Hollywood mayor Horvath, one of five LA County supervisors, has seen her relationship with Bass strain after the apocalyptic fires, according to the LA Times.
When asked about the text exchange, Bass told the LA Times: ‘Supervisor Horvath has been a tremendous partner. … She and I continue to work together to make sure the Palisades can rebuild as quickly and safely as possible.’
‘There’s going to be miscommunication along the way, and at the end of the day, the Supervisor and I are united in getting the people we serve back home and back on their feet.’
Horvath, on her part, said ‘Dealing with a crisis of this scale is complex, and frustrations are inevitable.’
She added: ‘Mayor Bass cares deeply for the residents of Los Angeles, and I will continue to work with her — as I do with the Mayors of all of my District’s cities — to ensure the County is supporting all our communities.’
Horvath spokesperson Constance Farrell said Bass declined to continue doing press briefings about wildfire updates with the supervisor.
Bass office has argued constituents had complained the pressers were too long.
The mayor is still dealing with the fallout of her much-criticized handling of the historic wildfires in LA.
For Bass, the horror show was compounded by every chief executive’s worst nightmare. She was halfway around the globe, on a trip to Ghana as part of a presidential delegation.
As her city faced its greatest crisis in decades, the first-term mayor confronted a critical test of her leadership two years after taking office. After rushing home to help manage the city’s response, she pushed back against a loud chorus of critics from near and far.
Bass eventually made it back to Los Angeles by military transport, but only after a more than 24-hour absence, during which critics assailed her for not being better prepared. More than 5,000 homes burned as fire hydrants ran dry because water demand was so high it drained the city’s reserve tanks.