During his inaugural address, President Donald Trump criticized California’s response to the Los Angeles wildfires as he is scheduled to visit the Golden State to survey the damage on Friday. 

Trump has been vocal of his disapproval of the way California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have handled the fire response, accusing them of “gross incompetence,” even suggesting that Newsom resign as governor. 

In his first televised sit-down interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity since returning to the White House, Trump ripped Newsom for his leadership leading up to the deadly wildfires and his defense of sanctuary cities.

“If you actually polled the people, they don’t want sanctuary cities,” Trump told Hannity. “But Gavin Newsom does, and these radical left politicians do. I watched Gavin Newsom try to answer that question. He looked like an idiot. He was unable to answer.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President-elect Trump have clashed on various issues, including immigration. (Getty | AP)

Trump claimed the lack of forest management and Newsom’s reported refusal to allow stormwater from the north to flow down freely to Southern California helped contribute to one of the most destructive wildfires in the state’s history.

Izzy Gardon, director of communications for Newsom’s office, previously combated criticism of the governor’s wildfire handling in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

“The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,” Gardon said. 

On Thursday, Newsom signed off on a relief package where the state will spend $2.5 billion to help with the Los Angeles wildfires recovery. 

“This is about distilling a sense of hopefulness,” Newsom said during a news conference.

Newsom’s administration added that the state expects to be reimbursed by the federal government for the disaster relief funding.

It is not known if Trump plans to meet with Newsom during his visit Friday. 

“We are glad President Trump accepted the governor’s invitation to come to Los Angeles,” Newsom’s office told Fox News Digital. “We are glad he took our invitation to heart.” 

Trump’s criticism of California and Newsom’s leadership in the state spans years, with the president singling out forest management, sanctuary cities, homelessness, crime and spending as contributing factors to the state’s condition. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference in Fontana, Calif., on Feb. 17, 2022. (Watchara Phomicinda/MediaNews Group/Press-Enterprise via Getty Images)

“There is no sugarcoating the reality,” Su said in a previous press conference. “California has not had sufficient security measures in place to prevent this level of fraud, and criminals took advantage of the situation.”

Nearly all the fraudulent claims were paid through the federally supported Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. The program was approved by Congress to provide unemployment assistance to those who usually wouldn’t be eligible, such as independent contractors. 

Officials added that the program’s broad eligibility requirements made it an easy target for criminals, including from Russia and Nigeria. In December, 21,000 prisoners scored more than $400 million from the state, including 100 prisoners on death row. 

“It should be no surprise that EDD was overwhelmed, just like the rest of the nation’s unemployment agencies,” Su said. “As millions of Californians applied for help, international and national criminal rings were at work behind the scenes working relentlessly to steal unemployment benefits using sophisticated methods of identity theft.”

The governor’s office did not immediately provide a response.

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz, Stephanie Giang-Paunon, Morgan Phillips, Thomas Catenacci, Jamie Joseph and Charlie Creitz contributed to this report.