Biden tells speakers to fire away! during LA wildfire briefing, while claiming power supply caused hydrants to run dry: No pun intended
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden repeatedly told speakers to “fire away!” during a White House briefing on the still raging Los Angeles wildfires before blaming local power companies for fire hydrants running dry — an allegation that was quickly rebuffed by both of the area’s electricity providers.Biden, 82, shocked attendees by his choice of words on Thursday given the gravity of devestation caused by the dueling infernos and later applauded California Gov.
Gavin Newsom who President-elect Donald Trump blamed for the hydrants running out of water.“Madam vice president, I know you’re directly affected, so you fire away!” Biden told Vice President Kamala Harris, a California native, who shot a surprised look at the president as he sat next to her at the Roosevelt Room’s board table.“No pun intended,” he added in response to Harris’ stunned expression.Yet, moments later, Biden repeated the same eyebrow-raising directive, telling US Forest Service Chief Randy Moore, “Chief, why don’t you fire away?” as multiple fires continued to tear through 30,000 acres across Los Angeles, killing at least five people.
The ill-advised wordplay came one day after Biden was blasted for saying “the good news is I’m a great-grandfather as of today” during a visit to a Santa Monica fire station, which critics said was insensitive to the plight of thousands of residents who fled their homes.The gaffe-prone president also defended Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats, during his Thursday remarks while blaming power utility companies for fire hydrant water outages that left firefighters helpless as thousands of homes burned to the ground.The commander in chief suggested that power companies shut off power to prevent explosions and additional fires but in doing so, cut off power needed to pump water out of a hydrant.“What I know from talking to the governor [is] that there are concerns out there that there’s also been a water short...