Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass’ text messages from around the time the destructive Palisades Fire began were not saved, a report has found.
The Los Angeles Times sought the text messages as part of its reporting, requesting “all text messages sent and received by the mayor as she was returning from Africa on Jan. 7 or Jan. 8 that specifically mentioned fire response or travel plans.”
David Michaelson, counsel to the mayor, responded to the request saying that Bass’ phone was set not to save text messages, the Times reported. Michaelson further claimed that there was “no requirement that a city official or employee” save their text messages. The Times, however, noted that the city’s own document retention policies say records must be kept for at least two years. Michaelson argued that such retention does not apply to text messages.
There is no setting on most smartphones that keeps them from automatically saving text messages. On iPhone and Android, users can set their phone to delete text messages after a certain amount of time, with the lowest usually being 30 days. The Times says it filed a records request within three days of the fires starting in Los Angeles. Michaelson did not respond to a Daily Wire inquiry.
Bass was out of the country, in Ghana, when the fires started despite previously telling constituents she would never leave the country in her capacity as mayor. She left Ghana that evening and was back in L.A. the next day, with access to her phone for the entire trip.
It took Bass’ office two months to respond to the Times’ request, saying there were “no responsive records.”
Bass was heavily criticized for slashing nearly $18 million from the fire department’s $837 million budget, with critics arguing that budget decrease left the city ill-prepared to fight the fires that raged through L.A. for nearly a month. The fires consumed nearly 60,000 acres, killed at least 29 people, and destroyed more than 16,000 structures, causing billions in property damage.
At the time, President-elect Donald Trump accused California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of failing to properly manage water in the state. He alleged that Newsom’s incompetence led to fire hydrants drying up when crews tried to put out the fires. So-called experts in urban water supply dismissed Trump’s claims.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump published on social media.
