February 5, 2026 • 32 mins
The John Kobylt Show Hour 3 (02/05) - John goes through an article that broke down all of Gov. Gavin Newsom's failures. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin comes on the show to talk about the Trump Administration coming to California to sort out the rebuilding debacle after the Palisades & Eaton Fires. More on Mayor Bass denying that she had the Palisades Fire after-action report altered.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We are on from one until four o'clock and coming
up at three twenty three to twenty Lee Zeldon, We've
been promoting it for three o'clock. He's running a little behind.
He is the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and
(00:24):
he is in charge of the federal government's intervention into
trying to rebuild Altadena and Pacific Palisades because of the
massive failure of Karen Bass, Gavin Newsom, and the La
County Supervisor's board, all of them over the last year,
a massive, massive failure. Hardly anything's been built. And we're
(00:50):
going to talk to Lee Zeldon about it. Yesterday we
had we had Kelly Lofflern, head of the Small Business Administration.
It's terrible what they're doing to the people.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
It's cruel.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
We really have cruel sadists running our city, county, and state.
And speaking of the guy running our state, The New
York Times has a commonness named Brett stevens Now. He
is the one moderate Republican on the Times editorial staff
(01:27):
writing columns. Although he does he dislikes Trump intensely but
it is The Times and they put this on their
front page. Will Newsom be the Democrats next mistake, because
they've had a lot of mistakes in the past ten
years running for President Hillary Biden Kamala is Newsome the
(01:53):
next in that light of duds? And he acknowledged that
there's a lot of funning of Newsom, such as that absurd,
ridiculous Vogue magazine profile that was done by let me
get her name, Maya Singer. She's the one who described
(02:14):
Newsom is embarrassingly handsome, life energetic, a glimmer of optimism
in his eye, Kennedy esque, everything to make you gag.
But he points out that Democrats should be careful whom
they're crushing on because his governor of California is a
(02:35):
Republican strategist, perfect foil. And he goes through all the
massive failures of Gavin Newsom again, and this was put
on the front of the New York Times. Let's start
with affordability. Brett Stevens says, well, that's supposed to be
the Democrat's magic word. US News and World Report ranked
(02:55):
California dead last in twenty twenty five ability. We are
the least affordable state in the nation, and the Democrats
are running full blown on it.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Why would Gaven Newsom be.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
The guy Poverty, income inequality. California is tied with Louisiana
from the highest poverty rate when you take into account
cost of living. One out of six Californians are living
in poverty here one out of six. Okay, so we
(03:34):
have the most poverty, we're the least affordable. Along those lines,
the California's California Legislature has its own analyst office, which
said that prices for mid tier homes in California are
more than twice as expensive then a typical mid tier
(03:57):
home in the United States as a whole, twice as
expensive seven hundred and fifty five thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
In sixteen California counties, including Los Angeles, San Diego County,
San Francisco, Alameda, a six figure salary can be deemed
low income for a family of three. Can you imagine
you're making six figures, got a professional job, and according
to the government, your low income if you live here.
(04:28):
More newsome accomplishments homelessness. California accounted for almost half of
all the individuals who experienced chronic homelessness according to a
twenty twenty four report, forty four percent to be exact.
That's that is according to the US Department of Housing
(04:51):
in Urban Development during the Biden administration, we have forty
four percent basically the street homeless.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Another accomplishment for Newsom.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Between April twenty twenty in July twenty twenty five, we've
had a total net loss of one point three million
people who move to other states, driven out by housing
prices that are double the national average, the highest income
tax rate, the slowest job growth, and you had four
(05:26):
hundred and forty one businesses relocating their headquarters in the
last seven years. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation found that
a Californian leaves the state every minute and forty four seconds,
the fastest rate in the nation. Education, we are ranked
(05:49):
thirty eighth in the country, behind Mississippi and Louisiana. We
have a worse public education system than Mississippi. In Louisiana,
even though we have doubled per pupil spending in the
last twelve years one hundred and two percent, it's gone up,
(06:10):
So we doubled the spending and we're worse than Mississippi.
In Louisiana. US News and World Report Energy Costs. The
average retail price for electricity is more than twice the
national average. And as we told you last hour, with gasoline,
gasoline here is four thirty nine four to forty a gallon.
(06:35):
It's two eighty eight average. Rest of the country, it's
two thirty six. In Oklahoma, we have the highest gas
tax in the country, and we have so many regulations
that we just lost the biggest refinery in the state
in Benetia. Hillero closed it down on Sunday. I'm not
(06:56):
even done here. But this is Brett Steve in the
New York Times. And of course I've heard the New
York Times called the Bible of the left here in
this country. Well, the high priests at the New York
Times are giving a signal saying, not this guy. Not
this guy for president. This guy's destroyed California. Even the
(07:21):
Democrat establishment is starting to turn on Gavin Newsom because
he's such an embarrassment. We've got Leez Elden coming up next.
Leez Elden, the head of the EPA who's in charge
of investigating the lack of a rebuild here in Altadena
and in Pacific Palisades. Leezelden is next.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
We now are going to talk with Leezelden. He is
the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and Donald Trump
has named him to be in charge of this federal
intervention of Altadena and Pacific Palisades. A complete lack of
rebuilding by the local and state governments led by Karen Bass,
(08:12):
Gavin Newsom, the LA County Board of Supervisors, and people
are in terrible shape and there seems to be no
end in sight to the delays, and they're suffering.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Lis eld and welcome. How are you?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, I know, real well, it's good to be with you.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
This is your.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Second day during the devastation. I know you came last year,
you came here right after the fires. Do you see
any real progress?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Well, I've seen a lot of progress. Early on, EPA
was in charge of the hazardous material removal. We got
that done a less than thirty days, in record time.
Army Corps came in, they completed their debris removal. SBA
gave out half of their disaster loans of twenty twenty five,
just two victims of the Palisades and eating fires. That's
(09:01):
over three billion dollars. The President from the moment he
was sworn in was signing executive orders and directing his
team to help. And fast forward to more recently, after
hearing directly from people who lost their homes who know
the President, sharing their stories, the President realizing that there
(09:21):
were these non federal logjams that still existed, he decided
enough is enough and he wanted to do everything in
his power to help break through it. He signed an
executive order two fridays ago with direction at FEMA and
SBA to help break through whatever obstacles are there on
the permitting SBA signed up role last week. I've been
(09:44):
in LA with the SBA administrative Small Business Administration Administrator,
Kelly Loffler, and we just want to do whatever we
possibly can to help break through the stuff, even if
it is you know, conventional, historical, traditional federal role. Lastly,
I just want to say I got a lot of
(10:06):
feedback yesterday of people who are getting burned by their
insurance companies. Only pisses me off. I was. I was
a state senator in New York during Sandy. I've been
through this I was getting flashbacks to my experiences dealing
with it. Then I was happy to hear yesterday that
some people are you know, they they've had an easy
(10:26):
process with their company. They got paid everything they were owed.
But it really bothered me hearing about these other insurance
companies dragging policy holders through the mud, taking too long provide,
requiring too much information, and not providing everything that's owed.
And this now is going to have the full attention
of everyone beyond just that policy holder that's getting screwed.
(10:51):
So I think that any insurance company out there, y'all
know who you are. If you're responsible for torturing your
policyholders and allowing them to rebuild, now is the time
to clean up that mess that you create and pay
out what you owe. Because man, I am furious at
what I was hearing yesterday, and I really want to
(11:11):
help with that too.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Do you have the power to intervene with these insurance companies?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
The President and yeah, and I and others, we have
a voice, and I'm gonna go I'm going to talk
to the President about this specifically in addition to other
stuff that I experienced. I'm gonna be really candid with
him and it'll be up to the president to decide
what his thoughts are on what I do. I do,
(11:43):
I have the power. Well, yesterday when I finished the roundtable,
we were talking about it, and I went out to
the media where they were all waiting. I didn't follow
any of the notes that my team prepared for me
to say, and on these insurance, on those insurance and
raising awareness.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
All right, we're having a connection problem here, Ray, why
don't we Uh well, hang on, hang on you you
completely disappeared there for a couples. The last thing I
heard you say is you're raising awareness.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Bring awareness. Is that's the very least Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Uh, let me let me give you a rundown. What
I heard from from one of the Altadena residents. Her
her name is Heavenly Heavenly Hughes, and she was on
the show recently, and this is what it's like. She says,
for many many residents, the rental assistance has ended, the
mortgage deferral has ended. Now they have to make a
balloon payment.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
The insurance is not paying. If they do pay, their
policy is canceled. Right after that. There's no permits. So
the permits are coming up very slowly and now there's
lots of people facing foreclosures and possible bankruptcies, and she
says it is a huge problem affecting a lot of people.
And what, I mean, what can be done? Did these
(13:08):
people are right on the press I.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Heard I've heard the same his story. I mean, I
would I don't just say I think it's true. I'm
sure it is. And uh, it's a combination of some
of the worst factors on the the permitting front. When
I was having the meetings yesterday, I met with Yellow
County Supervisor Catherine Barger, then met with La Mayor Karen
Bass when I was meeting with the mayor, and by
(13:31):
the way, both meetings were really productive and candid, and
we went to the weeds on a lot and I'm
grateful that we were able to have that discussion. You know,
something that caught my eye was that the on the
La city permits, there are over a thousand permanent applications
that were submitted to the city that are now back
(13:52):
with the applicant. I want to figure out why that is.
Is it something small, is something big? Is somebody getting
the run around, or you know, whatever their reasons are.
I want to get to the bottom of the fast
It just kind of feels like constituent services that used
to do a lot of myself and just see what
can be done to help these people because those permits
(14:14):
need to be granted. Now, the SBA rule that I
mentioned that that was signed last week by Administrator Lessler,
that creates a method to self certify and to be
able to break through local log jams, and that's the
key initiative on the at the federal level. We just
talked about the insurance insurance payment piece that is its
(14:37):
own bucket that we need to break through. The mortgage
rental assistant payments that are expiring, that's another topic that
was discussed yesterday, and we just we have to work
through all of this at once. I mean, I got
a lot more color and context on a lot of
different topics I knew were an issue going into yesterday.
(14:59):
Now coming out of this visit to Los Angeles in
the coming days, in the next week or so, I'd
really like to get to the bottom of every way
that we could just bust through any barriers that are
in front of us. And I'm happy to help. I
want to do whatever I can help.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, because a lot of people feel I'm sure you've
heard all the news coverage. We had atrocious preparation by
the city and the state in advance of the fire
and wind warnings. Basically, they did allow the palisades to burn.
A lot of people in Altadena were never notified there
was a fire, and they burned to death in the
middle of the night. Now they find that they can't
(15:36):
get their insurance payments, they can't get the permits, they
can't rebuild, So now their whole property is going to
be taken away and it's and they're standing in shock.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
It's like it's been a year of this torture.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Why is the government here, the city and the county
and the state doing this to people? There just doesn't
seem to be an ounce of common sense or empathy.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, and the insurance regulations and legislation, the stuff that
comes from the state level. It's state by states. In
you need to just California. There are insurance issues, whether
it's health insurance, whether it's whether it's property insurance. There
are issues in other parts of the country as well,
but the state ends up coming out with their own
(16:19):
regulations and laws that in this case create a market
that is jamming up these policy holders where you know
they're losing the coverage that they're getting underpaid. There's not
enough pressure coming from the state, and there's not fixes
coming from the state, and that's that's a real problem
(16:40):
because people need to get paid the money that they're
owed in order to be able to rebuild SBA has
played a key role. I mentioned the earlier Ministry Leffler
was with me. With the amount of funding that they
are providing. There are a lot of conversations yesterday about
how to best deploy those funds to maximize help to
(17:01):
break through these issues that we're talking about here in
this conversation, and I mean it would be it would
just be great for everyone at every level, whether you're
you know, in government, you're out of government, if you
have any ability whatsoever to help these Americans rebuild their
lives instantly, like yesterday was the time to jump in.
(17:25):
Tomorrow is I guess next best. But the delays, it
can't happen anymore because there's more time goes by. The
person who has a mortgage to pay while also paying
rent and being on a fixed income. They had the property,
but maybe their bank accounts aren't filled with all the
liquidity that you might see in the net worth of
(17:48):
the property. There are real people with real struggles, and
they need help, and that's why the President sent me
to LA. I'm I'm happy to do whatever I cannot
just report back to the White House and what we earned,
but to identify any possible way to further assist.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I can tell you're bringing a lot of energy and
analysis to this. Why do you think we haven't been
getting that for the last year from city, county, and
state officials. I haven't had a conversation like this with
any of them, and I haven't seen anyone else have
this kind of conversation. All most people get as a
wall of silence and confusion.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
What's wrong with you?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I mean, listen, I don't exactly know how to answer
that question. And speaking for others as to why, I
know why the President sent me to Los Angeles. I
know why. I have ramped up my team to identify
every possible way that we can be able to assist.
(18:50):
But you know, some of the lessons can be found
in how this ended up happening in the first place.
I mean, you had your wild fire prevention for management
practices minimized, depleted that causes an issue, acting as if
Sanna and A wins was as like new phenomenon that
(19:10):
started a few years ago, as if it's not one
hundred years, hundreds of years ago. I know this was
being dealt with reservoirs that were as that that are necessary.
The President is focused on the forest management, he's focused
on the water flow. But I mean, if we were
to try to find clues as to why, you know,
(19:31):
anything might not have been done efficiently or smartly in
the last year, I would look even further back as
to why this happened in the first place.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, I mean, all they had to do was have
a fire crew at the site of the original January
first fire, which was still a raging hotspot. If they
just had a crew putting that out, none of this
would happen in the Palisades, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
And by the way, and listen my attitude here. I
want to work with with anybody and everyone on this.
My message to the county supervisor yesterday morning and her team,
my message to the mayor and her team, my message
to the residents. I am willing to the Trump administration
(20:15):
is willing to work with anyone, and I don't care
what party, are your politics anything. By the way, I
served with Karen Bess. We were in the house to
get a different sides of the aisle, voted differently on
a whole lot of different things. I just want to
figure out how to identify whatever the issue is and
figure out how to bust through it. That's all I
(20:38):
care about this whole cause, this whole purpose is for
the person who lost everything, for them to be able
to rebuild. As I was standing in the palisades yesterday,
I was looking when I was exactly a year earlier
where there was no home. Then to think that on
these properties, as I'm doing a three sixty and I
(20:59):
see no rebuilding at that site a year later, I
am so motivated to be able in months, not years,
in months to be able to stay at that same site,
to look around and just see new construction all over
the darn place.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Well, Leez Elden, thank you for coming on. There's a
lot of people listening who are hoping and braying and
wishing you great success. And anytime you want to come
back on the air and explain what's going on, you're
welcome to it.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
I appreciate it. It's great to be with you all right.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
That's Lee Selden, who's in charge of now the federal
intervention into the Fiery Building, Altaden and Palisades. He's head
of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Six forty moistline is eight seven seven Moist eighty six
eight seven seven Moist eighty six or usually talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio Apple.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
We just had an extended interview with Lee Zelden.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
He's head of the for Donald Trump and he's been
assigned to direct the federal intervention here in Los Angeles,
specifically out the DNA and Pacific Palisades, over the complete
lack of rebuild that's gone on in both towns. I mean,
(22:20):
it's it's it's really really dreadful. Obviously, we've gone what's amazing,
We've we've gone over this again and again and again,
and there's just absolutely no movement on the part of
the county government and the Board of Supervisors, Karen Bass
and and her office, her administration. Gavin Newsom, forget completely.
He doesn't register at all, he doesn't ever show up here.
(22:44):
I mean, why don't we have a governor who speaks
like Lee Zelden did or Kelly Loffler yesterday from the
Small Business Administration, just go through all the details, identifying
the issues and what the solutions are. Instead, every time
Bass speaks, she's telling us everybody how resilient everyone is
(23:07):
and everything's going well. The only progress was from the
federal government originally with the Army Corps of Engineers and
all the agencies FEMA that helped clean up the palisades.
At first the you know, the debris and and and
the soil. But after that that was over in a
couple of months, and then and then nothing. And they
(23:29):
go and they sit at these meetings and then the
next ding nothing. We started the show Bye Bye by
talking about Bass's lame non defense of the accusations in
the La Times. People in her inner circle are saying that, yeah,
(23:52):
she interfered and had the after action report rewritten to
make the city and the La Fire Department looked better.
She did do it. She's lying out and outside she lied,
and her response is it's muck raking journalism. Well, the
(24:13):
muck is the truth. And now she's just going to
uh blunder on. Now those people are going to testify
under oath. You know, the plaintiff's attorneys in the Palisades case,
the attorney's representing the homeowners, They're going to get depositions
(24:37):
from these people and Basses in her circle. But this
is what I said at the beginning of the show,
and I'm going to keep asking this. If Karen Bass
didn't rewrite or order the rewrite of the after action report,
then tell us the name of the person who did.
Karen Bass is not offering the name of the mystery person.
(25:00):
Ronnie van Aweva, the interim fire chief, is not speaking
at all. And according to the time story, Bass talked
to vi in Aweva about the changes, and then you
have the new stooge. Heimi Moore, the fire chief, who
yesterday or earlier in the week, said well, if we
(25:21):
give the names of.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Who rewrote the report, what are people.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Going to do with those names. They're just going to
point fingers and point blame. Yeah, so people can be fired,
so we know who to sue here, so we know
who should be chased out of office or forced out
of their position. Yeah, we have to know that you
work for us. Jimi Moore and Bass and Viena Wava, they.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
All forgot you work for US.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Residents in the taxpayers of Los Angeles. Jeremy Patterwer. We've
had him on the show a number of times. He's
a toy industry executive and inventor and his house was
burned out and he was one of the organizers along
with Spencer Pratt, of the Big rally they had January seventh.
They let us burn and he posted this online and
(26:21):
he said, Mayor Karen Bass, obstruction of justice. Our mayor
erased all the emails from January of twenty twenty five.
She then changed and withheld details in the Fire department
after action report.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
She asked for.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Changes to soften liability and political fallout. This is the
very definition of obstruction of justice. The very definition obstruction
of justice is a criminal offense that occurs when someone
intentionally interferes with the legal process in a way that
prevents law enforcement, prosecutors, regulators, or courts from carrying out
(26:56):
their duties. Core elements include a foreseeable proceeding or investigation
She's done that could be criminal, civil, congressional, regulatory. Another
core element is intent. The person must knowingly try to
interfere she did, and number three a natural obstructive act.
Yes she did. She knew there'd be investigations into the
(27:20):
fire on all levels. She had intent, and she acted
out on the intent with an intentional act to erase
emails and demand and effect changes in the report to
cover up what happened. She should be taken out in cuss.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
In case you haven't heard. Rick Caruso not running for mayor,
so said one of his political advisors, Mike Murphy. Austin Butner,
who worked as the school's cancelor. He worked as a
deputy in the Viegos administration. He's not running for mayor.
He suffered a terrible tragedy. His daughter was found last
(28:08):
month on the side of the road in Palmdale and
she died. So Caruso and Buttener both out right now.
It's Bass, Spencer Pratt and other people you don't know.
So Spencer Pratt is going to looks like, I mean,
tomorrow's the deadline to enter the race for mayor, and
(28:30):
at the moment it looks like he's going to have
to take on Bass by himself. And he is already
producing a lot of online material, getting right to the
heart of all her failures. And I just want to
reiterate with Jeremy Patterer wrote online. She should be charged
with obstruction of justice for covering up the fire report
(28:53):
and rewriting it in addition to deleting all her emails
last year. And if she didn't do it, who did?
And Uh, Karen Bass knows, and so does Ronnie vin Aweva,
and so does the current chief Homymore. They know, they
(29:16):
know it's Bass. Is she gonna are?
Speaker 1 (29:22):
They? Are?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
They so frightened of her that they're going to continue
to cover up? Here's some more good news. Well, I
think I told you that JD. Vance is going to
lead this anti fraud task force against against California because
of the billions and billions of dollars in fraud. Uh,
(29:47):
there's apparently an all out, finally, an all out of salts.
The California has been protected for so many years. But
all these investigations should have been including the fire investigations,
should have been done by our attorney general.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
But you talk about a blue wall.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
There's no investigations out of the Governor's office, no investigations
out of the attorney General's office. No investigations and hearings
out of the California legislat legislature none. I think you
have to understand. We've got one hundred and twenty representatives
in Sacramento, and more than two thirds of over seventy
percent are Democrats. They're in charge of all the committees,
(30:31):
all the investigative bodies. They've done no investigating into what
Karen Bass and Newsome have done to the people here
in the Palisades now Tadana.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
None.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Neither has any Democratic congressman or women or senators here.
Nothing from from Adam Schiff or Alex Padia.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
We've got all these people from the East coast or
the Midwest. We've got We've got Rick's got the Senator
from Florida. He and the Senator from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson,
they're investigating. On the Senate level. We've got Lee Zelden
who's from New York, and Kelly Loffler, who's from Georgia.
They're now handling the federal government's intervention. But everyone you
(31:21):
vote for on every level, state, county, city, every one
of them, none of them are interested, none of them helpful,
none of them investigating. None of them providing any answers,
none of them making life better for all the people
who suffered this tragedy caused by government. It's actually astonishing
(31:47):
that there is no other state in the Union where
the citizens would put up with this kind of abuse,
this kind of torture from their own government. It's the
most fascinating thing in the world. Why Why does everybody
put up with this? And another day Tomorrow? Conway's coming
(32:08):
up next with his show, and Michael Kerzer is the
news live in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Hey,
you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast. You
can always hear the show live on KFI AM six
forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course, anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
I am six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We are on from one until four o'clock and coming
up at three twenty three to twenty Lee Zeldon, We've
been promoting it for three o'clock. He's running a little behind.
He is the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and
(00:24):
he is in charge of the federal government's intervention into
trying to rebuild Altadena and Pacific Palisades because of the
massive failure of Karen Bass, Gavin Newsom, and the La
County Supervisor's board, all of them over the last year,
a massive, massive failure. Hardly anything's been built. And we're
(00:50):
going to talk to Lee Zeldon about it. Yesterday we
had we had Kelly Lofflern, head of the Small Business Administration.
It's terrible what they're doing to the people.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
It's cruel.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
We really have cruel sadists running our city, county, and state.
And speaking of the guy running our state, The New
York Times has a commonness named Brett stevens Now. He
is the one moderate Republican on the Times editorial staff
(01:27):
writing columns. Although he does he dislikes Trump intensely but
it is The Times and they put this on their
front page. Will Newsom be the Democrats next mistake, because
they've had a lot of mistakes in the past ten
years running for President Hillary Biden Kamala is Newsome the
(01:53):
next in that light of duds? And he acknowledged that
there's a lot of funning of Newsom, such as that absurd,
ridiculous Vogue magazine profile that was done by let me
get her name, Maya Singer. She's the one who described
(02:14):
Newsom is embarrassingly handsome, life energetic, a glimmer of optimism
in his eye, Kennedy esque, everything to make you gag.
But he points out that Democrats should be careful whom
they're crushing on because his governor of California is a
(02:35):
Republican strategist, perfect foil. And he goes through all the
massive failures of Gavin Newsom again, and this was put
on the front of the New York Times. Let's start
with affordability. Brett Stevens says, well, that's supposed to be
the Democrat's magic word. US News and World Report ranked
(02:55):
California dead last in twenty twenty five ability. We are
the least affordable state in the nation, and the Democrats
are running full blown on it.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Why would Gaven Newsom be.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
The guy Poverty, income inequality. California is tied with Louisiana
from the highest poverty rate when you take into account
cost of living. One out of six Californians are living
in poverty here one out of six. Okay, so we
(03:34):
have the most poverty, we're the least affordable. Along those lines,
the California's California Legislature has its own analyst office, which
said that prices for mid tier homes in California are
more than twice as expensive then a typical mid tier
(03:57):
home in the United States as a whole, twice as
expensive seven hundred and fifty five thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
In sixteen California counties, including Los Angeles, San Diego County,
San Francisco, Alameda, a six figure salary can be deemed
low income for a family of three. Can you imagine
you're making six figures, got a professional job, and according
to the government, your low income if you live here.
(04:28):
More newsome accomplishments homelessness. California accounted for almost half of
all the individuals who experienced chronic homelessness according to a
twenty twenty four report, forty four percent to be exact.
That's that is according to the US Department of Housing
(04:51):
in Urban Development during the Biden administration, we have forty
four percent basically the street homeless.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Another accomplishment for Newsom.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Between April twenty twenty in July twenty twenty five, we've
had a total net loss of one point three million
people who move to other states, driven out by housing
prices that are double the national average, the highest income
tax rate, the slowest job growth, and you had four
(05:26):
hundred and forty one businesses relocating their headquarters in the
last seven years. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation found that
a Californian leaves the state every minute and forty four seconds,
the fastest rate in the nation. Education, we are ranked
(05:49):
thirty eighth in the country, behind Mississippi and Louisiana. We
have a worse public education system than Mississippi. In Louisiana,
even though we have doubled per pupil spending in the
last twelve years one hundred and two percent, it's gone up,
(06:10):
So we doubled the spending and we're worse than Mississippi.
In Louisiana. US News and World Report Energy Costs. The
average retail price for electricity is more than twice the
national average. And as we told you last hour, with gasoline,
gasoline here is four thirty nine four to forty a gallon.
(06:35):
It's two eighty eight average. Rest of the country, it's
two thirty six. In Oklahoma, we have the highest gas
tax in the country, and we have so many regulations
that we just lost the biggest refinery in the state
in Benetia. Hillero closed it down on Sunday. I'm not
(06:56):
even done here. But this is Brett Steve in the
New York Times. And of course I've heard the New
York Times called the Bible of the left here in
this country. Well, the high priests at the New York
Times are giving a signal saying, not this guy. Not
this guy for president. This guy's destroyed California. Even the
(07:21):
Democrat establishment is starting to turn on Gavin Newsom because
he's such an embarrassment. We've got Leez Elden coming up next.
Leez Elden, the head of the EPA who's in charge
of investigating the lack of a rebuild here in Altadena
and in Pacific Palisades. Leezelden is next.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
We now are going to talk with Leezelden. He is
the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and Donald Trump
has named him to be in charge of this federal
intervention of Altadena and Pacific Palisades. A complete lack of
rebuilding by the local and state governments led by Karen Bass,
(08:12):
Gavin Newsom, the LA County Board of Supervisors, and people
are in terrible shape and there seems to be no
end in sight to the delays, and they're suffering.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Lis eld and welcome. How are you?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, I know, real well, it's good to be with you.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
This is your.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Second day during the devastation. I know you came last year,
you came here right after the fires. Do you see
any real progress?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Well, I've seen a lot of progress. Early on, EPA
was in charge of the hazardous material removal. We got
that done a less than thirty days, in record time.
Army Corps came in, they completed their debris removal. SBA
gave out half of their disaster loans of twenty twenty five,
just two victims of the Palisades and eating fires. That's
(09:01):
over three billion dollars. The President from the moment he
was sworn in was signing executive orders and directing his
team to help. And fast forward to more recently, after
hearing directly from people who lost their homes who know
the President, sharing their stories, the President realizing that there
(09:21):
were these non federal logjams that still existed, he decided
enough is enough and he wanted to do everything in
his power to help break through it. He signed an
executive order two fridays ago with direction at FEMA and
SBA to help break through whatever obstacles are there on
the permitting SBA signed up role last week. I've been
(09:44):
in LA with the SBA administrative Small Business Administration Administrator,
Kelly Loffler, and we just want to do whatever we
possibly can to help break through the stuff, even if
it is you know, conventional, historical, traditional federal role. Lastly,
I just want to say I got a lot of
(10:06):
feedback yesterday of people who are getting burned by their
insurance companies. Only pisses me off. I was. I was
a state senator in New York during Sandy. I've been
through this I was getting flashbacks to my experiences dealing
with it. Then I was happy to hear yesterday that
some people are you know, they they've had an easy
(10:26):
process with their company. They got paid everything they were owed.
But it really bothered me hearing about these other insurance
companies dragging policy holders through the mud, taking too long provide,
requiring too much information, and not providing everything that's owed.
And this now is going to have the full attention
of everyone beyond just that policy holder that's getting screwed.
(10:51):
So I think that any insurance company out there, y'all
know who you are. If you're responsible for torturing your
policyholders and allowing them to rebuild, now is the time
to clean up that mess that you create and pay
out what you owe. Because man, I am furious at
what I was hearing yesterday, and I really want to
(11:11):
help with that too.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Do you have the power to intervene with these insurance companies?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
The President and yeah, and I and others, we have
a voice, and I'm gonna go I'm going to talk
to the President about this specifically in addition to other
stuff that I experienced. I'm gonna be really candid with
him and it'll be up to the president to decide
what his thoughts are on what I do. I do,
(11:43):
I have the power. Well, yesterday when I finished the roundtable,
we were talking about it, and I went out to
the media where they were all waiting. I didn't follow
any of the notes that my team prepared for me
to say, and on these insurance, on those insurance and
raising awareness.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
All right, we're having a connection problem here, Ray, why
don't we Uh well, hang on, hang on you you
completely disappeared there for a couples. The last thing I
heard you say is you're raising awareness.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Bring awareness. Is that's the very least Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Uh, let me let me give you a rundown. What
I heard from from one of the Altadena residents. Her
her name is Heavenly Heavenly Hughes, and she was on
the show recently, and this is what it's like. She says,
for many many residents, the rental assistance has ended, the
mortgage deferral has ended. Now they have to make a
balloon payment.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
The insurance is not paying. If they do pay, their
policy is canceled. Right after that. There's no permits. So
the permits are coming up very slowly and now there's
lots of people facing foreclosures and possible bankruptcies, and she
says it is a huge problem affecting a lot of people.
And what, I mean, what can be done? Did these
(13:08):
people are right on the press I.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Heard I've heard the same his story. I mean, I
would I don't just say I think it's true. I'm
sure it is. And uh, it's a combination of some
of the worst factors on the the permitting front. When
I was having the meetings yesterday, I met with Yellow
County Supervisor Catherine Barger, then met with La Mayor Karen
Bass when I was meeting with the mayor, and by
(13:31):
the way, both meetings were really productive and candid, and
we went to the weeds on a lot and I'm
grateful that we were able to have that discussion. You know,
something that caught my eye was that the on the
La city permits, there are over a thousand permanent applications
that were submitted to the city that are now back
(13:52):
with the applicant. I want to figure out why that is.
Is it something small, is something big? Is somebody getting
the run around, or you know, whatever their reasons are.
I want to get to the bottom of the fast
It just kind of feels like constituent services that used
to do a lot of myself and just see what
can be done to help these people because those permits
(14:14):
need to be granted. Now, the SBA rule that I
mentioned that that was signed last week by Administrator Lessler,
that creates a method to self certify and to be
able to break through local log jams, and that's the
key initiative on the at the federal level. We just
talked about the insurance insurance payment piece that is its
(14:37):
own bucket that we need to break through. The mortgage
rental assistant payments that are expiring, that's another topic that
was discussed yesterday, and we just we have to work
through all of this at once. I mean, I got
a lot more color and context on a lot of
different topics I knew were an issue going into yesterday.
(14:59):
Now coming out of this visit to Los Angeles in
the coming days, in the next week or so, I'd
really like to get to the bottom of every way
that we could just bust through any barriers that are
in front of us. And I'm happy to help. I
want to do whatever I can help.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, because a lot of people feel I'm sure you've
heard all the news coverage. We had atrocious preparation by
the city and the state in advance of the fire
and wind warnings. Basically, they did allow the palisades to burn.
A lot of people in Altadena were never notified there
was a fire, and they burned to death in the
middle of the night. Now they find that they can't
(15:36):
get their insurance payments, they can't get the permits, they
can't rebuild, So now their whole property is going to
be taken away and it's and they're standing in shock.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
It's like it's been a year of this torture.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Why is the government here, the city and the county
and the state doing this to people? There just doesn't
seem to be an ounce of common sense or empathy.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, and the insurance regulations and legislation, the stuff that
comes from the state level. It's state by states. In
you need to just California. There are insurance issues, whether
it's health insurance, whether it's whether it's property insurance. There
are issues in other parts of the country as well,
but the state ends up coming out with their own
(16:19):
regulations and laws that in this case create a market
that is jamming up these policy holders where you know
they're losing the coverage that they're getting underpaid. There's not
enough pressure coming from the state, and there's not fixes
coming from the state, and that's that's a real problem
(16:40):
because people need to get paid the money that they're
owed in order to be able to rebuild SBA has
played a key role. I mentioned the earlier Ministry Leffler
was with me. With the amount of funding that they
are providing. There are a lot of conversations yesterday about
how to best deploy those funds to maximize help to
(17:01):
break through these issues that we're talking about here in
this conversation, and I mean it would be it would
just be great for everyone at every level, whether you're
you know, in government, you're out of government, if you
have any ability whatsoever to help these Americans rebuild their
lives instantly, like yesterday was the time to jump in.
(17:25):
Tomorrow is I guess next best. But the delays, it
can't happen anymore because there's more time goes by. The
person who has a mortgage to pay while also paying
rent and being on a fixed income. They had the property,
but maybe their bank accounts aren't filled with all the
liquidity that you might see in the net worth of
(17:48):
the property. There are real people with real struggles, and
they need help, and that's why the President sent me
to LA. I'm I'm happy to do whatever I cannot
just report back to the White House and what we earned,
but to identify any possible way to further assist.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I can tell you're bringing a lot of energy and
analysis to this. Why do you think we haven't been
getting that for the last year from city, county, and
state officials. I haven't had a conversation like this with
any of them, and I haven't seen anyone else have
this kind of conversation. All most people get as a
wall of silence and confusion.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
What's wrong with you?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I mean, listen, I don't exactly know how to answer
that question. And speaking for others as to why, I
know why the President sent me to Los Angeles. I
know why. I have ramped up my team to identify
every possible way that we can be able to assist.
(18:50):
But you know, some of the lessons can be found
in how this ended up happening in the first place.
I mean, you had your wild fire prevention for management
practices minimized, depleted that causes an issue, acting as if
Sanna and A wins was as like new phenomenon that
(19:10):
started a few years ago, as if it's not one
hundred years, hundreds of years ago. I know this was
being dealt with reservoirs that were as that that are necessary.
The President is focused on the forest management, he's focused
on the water flow. But I mean, if we were
to try to find clues as to why, you know,
(19:31):
anything might not have been done efficiently or smartly in
the last year, I would look even further back as
to why this happened in the first place.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, I mean, all they had to do was have
a fire crew at the site of the original January
first fire, which was still a raging hotspot. If they
just had a crew putting that out, none of this
would happen in the Palisades, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
And by the way, and listen my attitude here. I
want to work with with anybody and everyone on this.
My message to the county supervisor yesterday morning and her team,
my message to the mayor and her team, my message
to the residents. I am willing to the Trump administration
(20:15):
is willing to work with anyone, and I don't care
what party, are your politics anything. By the way, I
served with Karen Bess. We were in the house to
get a different sides of the aisle, voted differently on
a whole lot of different things. I just want to
figure out how to identify whatever the issue is and
figure out how to bust through it. That's all I
(20:38):
care about this whole cause, this whole purpose is for
the person who lost everything, for them to be able
to rebuild. As I was standing in the palisades yesterday,
I was looking when I was exactly a year earlier
where there was no home. Then to think that on
these properties, as I'm doing a three sixty and I
(20:59):
see no rebuilding at that site a year later, I
am so motivated to be able in months, not years,
in months to be able to stay at that same site,
to look around and just see new construction all over
the darn place.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Well, Leez Elden, thank you for coming on. There's a
lot of people listening who are hoping and braying and
wishing you great success. And anytime you want to come
back on the air and explain what's going on, you're
welcome to it.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
I appreciate it. It's great to be with you all right.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
That's Lee Selden, who's in charge of now the federal
intervention into the Fiery Building, Altaden and Palisades. He's head
of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Six forty moistline is eight seven seven Moist eighty six
eight seven seven Moist eighty six or usually talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio Apple.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
We just had an extended interview with Lee Zelden.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
He's head of the for Donald Trump and he's been
assigned to direct the federal intervention here in Los Angeles,
specifically out the DNA and Pacific Palisades, over the complete
lack of rebuild that's gone on in both towns. I mean,
(22:20):
it's it's it's really really dreadful. Obviously, we've gone what's amazing,
We've we've gone over this again and again and again,
and there's just absolutely no movement on the part of
the county government and the Board of Supervisors, Karen Bass
and and her office, her administration. Gavin Newsom, forget completely.
He doesn't register at all, he doesn't ever show up here.
(22:44):
I mean, why don't we have a governor who speaks
like Lee Zelden did or Kelly Loffler yesterday from the
Small Business Administration, just go through all the details, identifying
the issues and what the solutions are. Instead, every time
Bass speaks, she's telling us everybody how resilient everyone is
(23:07):
and everything's going well. The only progress was from the
federal government originally with the Army Corps of Engineers and
all the agencies FEMA that helped clean up the palisades.
At first the you know, the debris and and and
the soil. But after that that was over in a
couple of months, and then and then nothing. And they
(23:29):
go and they sit at these meetings and then the
next ding nothing. We started the show Bye Bye by
talking about Bass's lame non defense of the accusations in
the La Times. People in her inner circle are saying that, yeah,
(23:52):
she interfered and had the after action report rewritten to
make the city and the La Fire Department looked better.
She did do it. She's lying out and outside she lied,
and her response is it's muck raking journalism. Well, the
(24:13):
muck is the truth. And now she's just going to
uh blunder on. Now those people are going to testify
under oath. You know, the plaintiff's attorneys in the Palisades case,
the attorney's representing the homeowners, They're going to get depositions
(24:37):
from these people and Basses in her circle. But this
is what I said at the beginning of the show,
and I'm going to keep asking this. If Karen Bass
didn't rewrite or order the rewrite of the after action report,
then tell us the name of the person who did.
Karen Bass is not offering the name of the mystery person.
(25:00):
Ronnie van Aweva, the interim fire chief, is not speaking
at all. And according to the time story, Bass talked
to vi in Aweva about the changes, and then you
have the new stooge. Heimi Moore, the fire chief, who
yesterday or earlier in the week, said well, if we
(25:21):
give the names of.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Who rewrote the report, what are people.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Going to do with those names. They're just going to
point fingers and point blame. Yeah, so people can be fired,
so we know who to sue here, so we know
who should be chased out of office or forced out
of their position. Yeah, we have to know that you
work for us. Jimi Moore and Bass and Viena Wava, they.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
All forgot you work for US.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Residents in the taxpayers of Los Angeles. Jeremy Patterwer. We've
had him on the show a number of times. He's
a toy industry executive and inventor and his house was
burned out and he was one of the organizers along
with Spencer Pratt, of the Big rally they had January seventh.
They let us burn and he posted this online and
(26:21):
he said, Mayor Karen Bass, obstruction of justice. Our mayor
erased all the emails from January of twenty twenty five.
She then changed and withheld details in the Fire department
after action report.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
She asked for.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Changes to soften liability and political fallout. This is the
very definition of obstruction of justice. The very definition obstruction
of justice is a criminal offense that occurs when someone
intentionally interferes with the legal process in a way that
prevents law enforcement, prosecutors, regulators, or courts from carrying out
(26:56):
their duties. Core elements include a foreseeable proceeding or investigation
She's done that could be criminal, civil, congressional, regulatory. Another
core element is intent. The person must knowingly try to
interfere she did, and number three a natural obstructive act.
Yes she did. She knew there'd be investigations into the
(27:20):
fire on all levels. She had intent, and she acted
out on the intent with an intentional act to erase
emails and demand and effect changes in the report to
cover up what happened. She should be taken out in cuss.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
In case you haven't heard. Rick Caruso not running for mayor,
so said one of his political advisors, Mike Murphy. Austin Butner,
who worked as the school's cancelor. He worked as a
deputy in the Viegos administration. He's not running for mayor.
He suffered a terrible tragedy. His daughter was found last
(28:08):
month on the side of the road in Palmdale and
she died. So Caruso and Buttener both out right now.
It's Bass, Spencer Pratt and other people you don't know.
So Spencer Pratt is going to looks like, I mean,
tomorrow's the deadline to enter the race for mayor, and
(28:30):
at the moment it looks like he's going to have
to take on Bass by himself. And he is already
producing a lot of online material, getting right to the
heart of all her failures. And I just want to
reiterate with Jeremy Patterer wrote online. She should be charged
with obstruction of justice for covering up the fire report
(28:53):
and rewriting it in addition to deleting all her emails
last year. And if she didn't do it, who did?
And Uh, Karen Bass knows, and so does Ronnie vin Aweva,
and so does the current chief Homymore. They know, they
(29:16):
know it's Bass. Is she gonna are?
Speaker 1 (29:22):
They? Are?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
They so frightened of her that they're going to continue
to cover up? Here's some more good news. Well, I
think I told you that JD. Vance is going to
lead this anti fraud task force against against California because
of the billions and billions of dollars in fraud. Uh,
(29:47):
there's apparently an all out, finally, an all out of salts.
The California has been protected for so many years. But
all these investigations should have been including the fire investigations,
should have been done by our attorney general.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
But you talk about a blue wall.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
There's no investigations out of the Governor's office, no investigations
out of the attorney General's office. No investigations and hearings
out of the California legislat legislature none. I think you
have to understand. We've got one hundred and twenty representatives
in Sacramento, and more than two thirds of over seventy
percent are Democrats. They're in charge of all the committees,
(30:31):
all the investigative bodies. They've done no investigating into what
Karen Bass and Newsome have done to the people here
in the Palisades now Tadana.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
None.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Neither has any Democratic congressman or women or senators here.
Nothing from from Adam Schiff or Alex Padia.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
We've got all these people from the East coast or
the Midwest. We've got We've got Rick's got the Senator
from Florida. He and the Senator from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson,
they're investigating. On the Senate level. We've got Lee Zelden
who's from New York, and Kelly Loffler, who's from Georgia.
They're now handling the federal government's intervention. But everyone you
(31:21):
vote for on every level, state, county, city, every one
of them, none of them are interested, none of them helpful,
none of them investigating. None of them providing any answers,
none of them making life better for all the people
who suffered this tragedy caused by government. It's actually astonishing
(31:47):
that there is no other state in the Union where
the citizens would put up with this kind of abuse,
this kind of torture from their own government. It's the
most fascinating thing in the world. Why Why does everybody
put up with this? And another day Tomorrow? Conway's coming
(32:08):
up next with his show, and Michael Kerzer is the
news live in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Hey,
you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast. You
can always hear the show live on KFI AM six
forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course, anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The John Kobylt Show News
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John Kobylt
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