October 8, 2025 • 32 mins
The John Kobylt Show Hour 2 (10/08) - CA State Assemblyman David Tangipa comes on the show to talk about the extensive travel on the taxpayer's dime by CA Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. A State Assemblyman Carl DeMaio comes on the show to talk about the Voter ID and No on Prop 50 events going on today. Attorney Roger Behle comes on the show to talk about the arrest of a suspect in connection to starting the Palisades Fire. More on the arrest of a suspect in connection to the start of the Palisades Fire.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Can't. I am six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We're on from one until four and after four o'clock.
John Cobelt's show on demand on the iHeart app. What
happened to the Tracy Park press conference? I'd still just
never not never got off the ground still hasn't started.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
All right, all right, we'll bring it to you when
it happens.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
We have more to tell you about the fire that
they got the suspect today, Jonathan Render knocked and there's
this is only the beginning. Okay, this is a big piece.
Who did it? But it turns out to be a
crazy person like a lot of arsonists are, and he
(00:40):
got off on doing it.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, he's an Uber driver.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So this is why we'll take Uber, I don't take
like regular Uber, because this is the guy that shows
up like mister arsonist, shows up late at night. He
was driving around on New Year's Eve dropping people off,
and then stopped and started the fire that became the
biggest most damaging blazeonel history. And it was just greasy
looking freak. All right, let's get to here's another story.
(01:08):
We were following quite a bit. A couple of weeks ago,
Ricardo Lara cal Fart Lara, he's the insurance commissioner and
KGO TV up in San Francisco, did a very long,
ten minute story. It's actually the second time they've covered
this issue, and this was much more information. He's gone
(01:30):
on forty eight trips while insurance commissioner over the last
six years, seven years, and many of them he charged
to the taxpayers just tens of thousands of dollars. And
many of these trips had nothing to do with insurance,
nothing to do with government, nothing to do with us.
(01:50):
He's going to Pride Week in New York City.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
He went.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Down a safari in South Africa. He went to some
conference of gay politicians to talk about what it's like
being gay at a politician charged this all brought big security,
private security.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Not only that, but he had they also had chp
and and other trips that were for pleasure, were for fun.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Well, we're going to talk now with David tangipa California
State Assemblyman, and we're going to find out if anybody
in government. It looks like the California Affair Political Practices
Commission is going to look into this but is anybody
in government going to hold this guy to accountable. He's
not explaining any of that. Let's let's get David on.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
How are you.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I'm doing well? How you doing?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I'm fine? Well, what's going on with this story?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Well, I think if you saw my statement, I feel
the exact same way you do. I was reading this
report and I was like, it's insanity that not enough people,
the media and everybody else aren't talking about this. It's
insanity to me that we haven't already called for his resignation. So,
as a freshman legislator, I told my team, let's get
(03:13):
it together. We're going to hold this guy accountable, and
we're going to ask for his resignation and disgrace because
what does a safari have to deal with do with insurance?
What does a lavish trip to five star in penthouse
hotels have to do with insurance? And especially if you're
in the LA area or in the southern California area
(03:34):
and you've had to stay in a motel because you
lost your property and you got canceled the week before,
or if you can't get or afford insurance right now,
or the prices are way too high, that it's more
than your mortgage that you ever paid for before. You
should be just as angry as I am because my
family had their property destroyed in the car fire. And
(03:56):
not only that, earlier this year, I was removed and
kicked off of the insurance Committee before it even started
because I wanted to ask the hard questions and I
knew that this would be a problem. But now our
insurance commissioner is flying off and having VIP parties with
DJ Kitty Glitter while people are suffering from the insurance
(04:16):
crisis and catastrophe that we are in. It is unacceptable,
and Ricardo Laura must resign.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
And he's getting protected by the Democratic Infrastructure and Sacramento.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Well this every single one of his trips were signed
off and approved by the governor's office. Really the way
it works, and if oh yeah, every single one of
these have to be signed off.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Wait wait, wait, So he puts in to go to
a Safari we pay for all the hotel and food
and transportation and all of security, and somebody at the
government's office looks at that and says, yeah, fine, sure,
go ahead.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Really exactly, that's exactly what happens. And that's the part
where I look at it, and there was a trip
was a forty eight hours, it was a two day trip.
He turned it into a two and a half week
vacation and submitted that as legislative purpose. That's how you
get these trips approved. You have to say that there's
(05:11):
a legislative purpose to it. And so he has weaponized
that entire system. And there's even times where I think
he spent about eleven six hundred dollars for a trip
in New York and didn't even attend any of the
insurance meetings and called it legislative purpose and it was
signed off by the governor's office. This isn't alleged. These
are the receipts that we are reading.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Oh my god, And that two and a half week
African safari was totally paid for by us, the tax payers.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
And it was a forty eight hour conference. It was
a two day conference that turned into two and a
half weeks, fully paid for thirty three thousand dollars people
of California.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
And Newsom's office signs off on it. And now nobody
wants to talk about this.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Huh.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Well, here's the worst part about it. This is a
very small portion of the forty plus trips. He went on,
we don't even have half of the reports yet.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
They won't release them from his office.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
We're waiting, and I can tell you this, we're demanding now.
And when I first got elected in the office, there
was this insurance. There was a roundtable under the California
Chamber of Commerce and it was called the new Kids
on the Block, and they asked each one of us
what was the most important issue in the state of California.
And I said, insurance, and insurance will collapse the state
(06:34):
because it is woven into every single fabric, into our business,
into our commercial business, into how we drive on a road,
into how we operate our day to day lives. And
there is a catastrophe coming and we were one large
scale disaster away from collapsing the entire system. And that
happened on January seventh with the Palisades and the Eton fire.
(06:55):
And they're going to say it's all of these other reasons.
It's potentially Donald Trump, it's climate change, Garah Lixen, and
negligence from the elected leaders in California. They are stealing
from you. I want every single voter to know this.
They are stealing from you. It feels like Marie Antoinette
let them eat cake, and the people here are suffering,
(07:15):
and the people in Sacramento don't even understand it, and
they are stealing from the Californians and they're doing it
right in front of our face. When are we going
to stand up and force them out?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Obviously, in a normal state, this would be something for
the Attorney General's office to investigate. But since that's not
going to happen because Rob Bonta is a member of
the club, is there any entity that can investigate this?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Well, I will tell you this, I will not stop.
I will exhaust every single option we can. We will
file as many reports as we can. I will call
on the federal administration. I will call on every single
aspect that I can find to make sure that we
can expose this because I have friends, I have family,
(08:00):
I have people I care about, and I have my
constituents that are telling me that they can't live their
day to day lives and they are choosing whether to
pay for insurance, food skipping a meal, or their utility cost.
And if we have people right now using taxpayer funds
to go on lavish trips in Champagne, suites. It is
despicable and we won't stop until we find somebody who
(08:21):
goes after them.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That's really disgusting.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
The California Fair Plan, which is the last resort for insurance,
that's going to go up thirty six percent the premiums
for next year. Thirty six percent increase was announced the
other day.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Exactly well, not only that the Fair Plan is in
such a dire state, and insurance is also so. I
used to be the vice chair of the Insurance Committee
and I was deep diving into everything. Here's the real
state of affairs of the Fair Plan. There was one
point two billion dollars held in the account for the
(08:57):
fires the Palisades wipe that entire serve out and left
us in a hole six hundred and eighty million dollars.
The State of California, under the Insurance Commissioner, issued a
reassessment that is paid for by every single taxpayer in
the State of California, of one billion dollars. That has
pulled us out of the hole and will leave us
three hundred and fifty million in the account to now
(09:20):
cover seven hundred billion in assets under the Fare Plan.
We don't have more than one percent in reserves for
the next fire. The sad part about this is what
that means is if you're next in line in an
area that is highly covered by the fare plan, you
(09:41):
just better hope that your home burns down first, because
if your home burned down burns down last, there is
no money in the account. There is nothing there if
we lose again another fire, just like the Palisades, and
which actually one of the largest areas of risk right
now is the Big Bear area in that southern San
Jose area. You follow the cancelations, you'll find the risk.
(10:05):
Those areas have billions of dollars under exposure, and we
only have three hundred and fifty million for the next
large scale catastrophe. It is it is insanity that anybody
who is in charge of insurance in the state of
California can even take one day of break, because the
people of California are suffering.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
David, we will keep talking about this. Everything you find out,
please let us know. We'll put you on immediately.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Okay, I'm relentless, I'm not married, i don't have kids,
so this is my baby and I'm gonna hold them
accountable to.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
It, all right, David ted GEEPA he's a Republican assemblyment
and that Ricardo Larra going off on dozens of trips
that nobody wants to explain, and the few trips that
have been explained by KGOTV up in San Francisco, he
spent tens of thousands of dollars two and a half
weeks a Safari trip in Africa, and we paid for everything,
(10:57):
five star hotels, an enormous amount of private security, extreme scandal,
and not a.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Word from anybody in government.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
And as he said, signed off by Newsom's office, go ahead,
enjoy your two and a half weeks.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Sure the suckers will pay for it.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
Boor coming up, you're listening to John Cobelt on demand
from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Coming up after a two point thirty, we're going to
have Roger Bailey, he's the attorney representing many many Palisades residents,
to talk about the big bombshell. This morning, the US
Attorney Bill of Sale held a press conference along with
other officials, and they announced they have a suspect in
the Palisades fire. Jonathan rinder Nack, a twenty nine year
(11:43):
old who lived in the Palisades before fleeing to Florida,
after he realized that the Feds were onto him. He'd
started it as an arson case New Year's Day.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
He was I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
He went to check at GPT and had some kind
of artwork created about a fire in a forest along
with a crowd looking at it, and he was listening
to some French song, a rap song, and the video
showed fire images and he had a fire obsession. This
was all feeding in into his head. He was just
(12:20):
one of these greasy looking losers who was an uber driver.
And people remembered driving the uber New Year's Eve in
the Palisades and at some point after midnight he got
out of the uber and went up there and started
the fire. And they suppressed it the fire department after
a few hours, but then seven days later it reignited
(12:43):
because of the strong winds and all the things that
most people in the Palisades want to know, no answers.
Yet after nine months, why did they put it out completely?
Why do they leave it to smolder? Where's the mayor
in Africa?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Right?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Where's Kristin Crowley, the fire chief? Why didn't she send
a crew to monitor once it became clear it was
going to be a windy, windy day. Had she sent
a crew there, maybe none of this fire damage would
have happened. Maybe six thousand families would still have their homes,
maybe twelve people wouldn't die. How many people would they
have needed to go back to the site of the
original fire, And according to an assistant fire chief in
(13:24):
the New York Times, he said, yeah, that's what you do,
because the fire remained smoldering in the dense vegetation down believe,
down below. In fact, Oh, that's right, We've got Carl.
Let's do Carl Demyo here, Sorry about that, Carl Demyo.
(13:44):
He's got a lot of events today. He's the Republican
to send them in. He heads reform California, and today's
the day that you can go to his sites. And well,
let Carl tell if somebody goes to your site today,
what can they get?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
What can they do?
Speaker 5 (14:00):
So we're going to do a couple things. Number one,
we're trying to do the California.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Voter ID initiative.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
We need a million signatures on petitions, so we want
people to sign the petition and also they can pick
up additional copies of the petition to take home to
friends and family to circulate it and get more signatures
and return them. We also have no on Prop fifty materials,
lawn signs and other materials available to distribute today and
(14:28):
at other events throughout the next several weeks. So today,
we're in ten locations in southern California in the KFI
listening audience area. Temecula, Corona, San Bernardino, Escandido, San Diego,
Mission Valley, Thousand Oaks, Santa Clarita, Torrents, Huntington Beach, Tustin,
and Laguna. You can get a complete list of addresses
(14:50):
where we are at giving out the petition and collecting
signatures at voterid events dot org or go to join
Caral dot org or join Carl dot org. That's Carl
to see. We also have other events coming up in
the next couple of weeks in southern California at different
times and locations. We have all of those events at
(15:12):
that same website. We need people to get engaged to
collect signatures for voter ID to get out the message
as to why people should vote no on Prop fifty.
The best way for you to engage in the campaign
show up at one of these events, the ones that
we're holding this afternoon in front of all these stores
throughout southern California, or at one of the events coming
(15:33):
up in your area in the coming weeks.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
All right, Carl Demile, talk again later. Thank you, thank you,
thank you. All right, So, all.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Right, after Debra's news, we're gonna Roger Bailey come on
the attorney because it was quite a bombshell today and
we'll talk about the work that they went through to
get the We're gonna play some clips from the from
Kenny Cooper, he's Special Agent in charge of LA's Field
Division for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and
(16:04):
they were literally crawling around on their hands and knees
looking for the evidence to a pinpoint to how the
fire started, where it started, who started.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
It, and all.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
That was quite an investigation that took nine months. So
now that we have those questions answered, how about the response,
the horrific response, and the lack of action by the
fire department to tend to the hotspot there, because apparently
it's common knowledge in the firefighting industry. You have a hotspot,
(16:33):
you have strong winds, it can whip up and turn
into a big blaze a few days later. Roger Bailey,
the attorney representing many Palisades residents, is going to be
on next also after three o'clock, Sayid Kashani. He's another
attorney from the Palisades who's been with us frequently. He
goes to public meetings about this, and he lost his home.
So continuous coverage about this coming up.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
You're listening to John Cobels from KFI A six forty.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Attention tax jeets.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
The IRIS is furlowing almost half its workforce and shuddering
most of their operations because of the government shut down.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
So does this mean that we don't have to pay
our taxes? I believe? So, okay, cool, all right, let's
get Roger Bailey on.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Roger Bailey's attorney representing many many Palisades residents. And today
we found out that Jonathan rendered act is the arsonists
who started the fire. But he said it on the
first of January, and after the fire department suppressed it,
it continued smoldering in the vegetation and reignited when the
(17:42):
winds blew on January seventh, And we know the story
from there, but they have the guy, and let's talk
to Roger Bailey.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
How are you Roger good John, how are you. What's
your first reaction when you heard this?
Speaker 6 (17:57):
Well, I have to tell you, we knew this was
coming months out. We didn't know the particulars, but we
knew there was a criminal investigation, and we knew that
that investigation was focused on the January one Lachmann fire,
not the Palisades fire. So what's important for people to
understand is there really are two separate fires, one on
(18:19):
January one, which was declared fully contained on January one,
and then we have the Palisades fire starting on January seventh.
And the cause of Palisades, as we talked about the
last two times I was with you, was a rekindling
of some members that were remaining on the state's land
(18:40):
for six days. So we kind of knew this was coming,
and I've already factored it into our analysis.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Well, this but also give you confirmation for what you're
going to be when you start going after depositions and
you start making demands and claims against the city, it
looks like they should have put it out and monitored
the fire, especially during the windstorm. I mean, there's some
(19:10):
kind of massive neglect and incompetence going on here. That
the fire commanders didn't keep a crew there or have
one show up on January seventh.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
Now, that's exactly right. You know, this was a small
fire relatively speaking, on January one. And you know the
protocol is when you declare a fire fully contained or extinguished,
you position watch crews and you know, they even have
these thermal scopes that can detect heat in the ground
(19:42):
and everything, so there's a protocol that they follow. But
this Palisades fire. The other thing the US Attorney confirmed
is that the Palistats fire started on state land. Now,
you remember last time we spoke together, Newsom had gone
public and said Palisades fire started on Stetter property. Well,
we just heard from the FEDS today that no, in fact,
(20:05):
the Pali States fire started on state land. Therefore, it
was the state's obligation to go out and inspect the
land make sure there weren't any lingering embers, and none
of that happened. We don't know what they were doing,
but they certainly weren't out looking at the burn scar
from this January one fire.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Oh so it rekindled on state.
Speaker 6 (20:26):
Land, absolutely true. Yeah, and that's confirmed. And if you
look at the criminal complaint that was filed today. There's
a nice chart that shows where the Lockman fire started
on January one, and then there's a in that same chart,
it shows where the Palisades fire started, and it's squarely
on state land, just as we alleged several months ago.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
But LA Fire Department responded. Were there any state firefighters
that responded as well? Like, when you have a fire
like that, who's got the jurisdiction to put it out?
Speaker 6 (21:00):
Well, it's state land, and I don't know whether you
remember of it. Last time I was with you, we
were fascinated that Newsom reported that he dispatched, you know,
all of these fire engines and National Guard troops pre
deployed them. And then when we got the records, there
was no state engines and no state troopers that were
(21:23):
dispatched to the Palisades fire. So sometimes the state can
can delegate to the you know, the LAFD, you know,
will you go and check things out, But the buck
stops with the state. It's it's the state's land and
they have an obligation to make sure somebody's there inspecting
their land. And that didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
He lies about everything.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Seriously, I'm actually astonished on how consistently he lies big issues,
small issues, it doesn't matter. Wow, that's uh yeah, that's
something else. Uh So what else did you hear that
bolsters or changes your case today?
Speaker 6 (22:06):
Well, we got the details about this particular arsonist, and
I suppose what jumped out of it to me is
just a citizen is I can't imagine a maneuverer driver
with a lighter is capable of burning down the palisades.
But apparently that's the claim is this guy got up
into the brush on the first of January and with
(22:30):
a lighter started a fire, and the end result of that,
according to them, was that all of the palisades burned down.
And we know there were so many intervening failures by
the government, beginning with the state not to inspect its
land to make sure there were no embers, and then
continuing with the city having the Sanaaz Reservoir drained and
(22:51):
rendered that entire water supply system inoperable. So with no
sen Inez online, the pressure in that system so that
you turn on the first few hydrants and the pressure
drops and ultimately they run out of water. And then
they didn't turn off the power, so all of the
every damage that we see.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, everything failed.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
The failure of the government. Yeah, I mean any of
the government.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I just can't believe that the hydrants failed, the reservoir
was empty, they didn't turn off the power, they didn't
clear out the vegetation, they didn't monitor the site of
the original fire.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Nothing, they didn't do anything.
Speaker 6 (23:31):
That's why it's so outland just to think a guy
with a light or can burn down the Palisades, It's
just it's inconceivable. But that's you know, that's what we
have because of the government failures, the intervening government failures,
not having water, not turning off the power, not inspecting
the state land to make sure there were no embers.
All of that resulted in the Palisades devastation.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
And everybody just bops along and they continue to live
their lives in government. Only Kristin Crowley, the fire chief.
She was used as a scapegoat and fired. But everybody
else keeps earning their pensions, earning their paychecks, keeping their position,
not responding in any way to any scrutiny, and outside
(24:14):
of your law firm and others, nobody's even providing any
scrutiny anymore. Nine months have gone by, and this is
no longer news, this is no longer part of the conversation.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
It's massive deflection. No one stepped up to accept accountability
and responsibility. They want, apparently, they want the public to
accept that this one uber driver is the sole reason
the Palisades doesn't exist anymore. And we know that's just
not the case. Governments failed massively before, during, and after
(24:47):
the fire.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Well, I know firsthand that the residents in the Palisades
are not buying it. They know what went on. Roger,
keep fighting. We'll talk with you again soon. Thank you.
Speaker 6 (24:58):
You bet to take care. John.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
All right, that's Roger Bailey, an attorney for many many
of the Palisades residents. Coming up after three o'clock, We're
going to talk to another attorney from the Palisades. He
lost his house entirely. He's been on our show many times,
and he shows up at the meeting, said Kashani, And
we'll get his response to the suspect, Jonathan Kindernoch being
(25:24):
named today. Also, we got to play you that Katie
Porter interview later on in the show. Katie Porter, who's
supposed to be the top Republican I'm sorry, the top
Democratic ubernatorial candidate. She's on top of the polls, ahead
of all the other candidates from both parties. We call
her missus potato Head. Missus potato Head got very angry
(25:48):
with an interviewer up in Northern California for CBS. We're
going to play you the whole clip because she got
upset that the report was asking follow up questions. This lady,
Katie Porter, is not mentally stable and should not be
anywhere near the governor's office.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
More coming up.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Six forty after three o'clock.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
We're going to talk to attorney said Kashani has been
with us quite a few times about the Palisades fire.
He lost his home in the fire, and he has
been challenging public officials all by himself, it seems at times,
going to meetings. We'll talk to about his reaction to
Jonathan Rindernach being declared the suspect, and it does seem
(26:41):
like they really have the goods on him. So this
morning was the big press conference hosted by US Attorney
Bill Saley. What I want to focus on is one
of the speakers was the ATF Special Agent in charge
of LA's Field Division, Kenny Cooper, because we told you
about how when the fire was put out on January first,
(27:04):
it's still smoldered beneath the surface in the thick vegetation.
In fact, even the roots below the surface were smoldering
as well. And here's Kenny Cooper. We're going to do
cut fourteen talking about how the investigators did their job
(27:26):
to determine the origin of the fire.
Speaker 7 (27:29):
ATF did not identify this suspect and rule and focus
specifically on the suspect. We still utilize our scientific process
and part of the lengthy time that.
Speaker 6 (27:43):
It took to go over these thousands.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
Of acres that were burned is we literally had agents
with our partners on their hands and knees, crawling through
fire debris. They're observing fire behavior patterns, they're flagging patterns.
An example of that fire will cause natural debris to
twist and freeze in a position pointing to the origin.
(28:09):
So looking at all those fire patterns flagging those, ATF
was able to zone to specifically get into the origin
of where that fire started from. Once they dialed into
the origin, using all the investigative techniques that they have
then they start really dialing into the very specific spot
(28:31):
that that fire was created.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
If only.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
The management the Alley Fire Department was is meticulous in
monitoring that burn area from January first, as much as
the ATF here was in investigating the cause. Now here's
Kenny Cooper, and again he's Special Agent in charge of
LA's Field Division, about how they know, because I think,
(28:59):
as Stanley said the press conference, this was not a
rest based on problem cause they know beyond a reasonable doubt.
They'll prove this in court and convict Jonathan Ridernacht. And
here is Kenny Cooper explaining how they know with such certainty,
And that's number sixteen.
Speaker 7 (29:19):
We went through exhaustive efforts to look at potential ignition sources,
whether they were fireworks where there are the down power lines,
or any other source of ignition. They went down those
investigative paths with exhaustive length to either rule them in
or rule them out with clarity. We know this is
(29:41):
incinary fire and that the subject that we arrested started it. Obviously,
the burn scar and the fire from the initial January
first Lockman fire was re examined by our investigators and
with complete sur they were able to see from the
(30:02):
same fire behaviors from them crawling on their hands and knees,
digging up roots, digging up all the evidence supplying that
fuel to the fire research lab they were able to
and also in collaboration of other data and other evidence.
We have fixed surveillance points, we have witnesses that were
up with their phones, We have a lot of different
(30:23):
data that all concluded where this fire started and the
fire behavior from that origin from that Lockman fire was
clearly established in the Palisades fire.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
So there's certain that the origin was the January first fire.
They're certain it was Jonathan Rindernacht who started the fire,
you know, with a lighter. So again the questions, and
we're going to keep on this every day that Karen
Bass is still there. Why did she go to Africa
(30:56):
when she had all those warnings. Why did she not
convene a meeting with the fire chief, with Genie Keinonias
and find out if they had a crew monitoring that hotspot.
The most likely place for a fire, once they knew
five days in advance that the winds were coming, the
most likely place for a fire would be the rekindling
(31:17):
of the Lockman fire. They knew that exact spot because
they had just claimed to have put it out a
few days earlier. But it wasn't put out. It was
smoldering still, So why wasn't there a crew there immediately?
That's what Bass should have been asking about. That's what
Kristin Crowley should have been telling her about. Did any
(31:37):
of them know that there was a reservoir that was
unfilled because of Genie Keinonias? It is Bass, it is Crowley,
it is Kenonas oh I got a lot of diversity there, don'tly,
but no explanations from the three of them. They used
Crowley's a scapegoat, but she's never fully explained her decisions,
and Bass is just hoping this all goes away. You
(32:00):
didn't see her anywhere near microphone today, did you either, Canonias.
There's no investigative agency here, nobody in the state, no
Rob Bonta looking at this. Let me guess we're gonna
get another after action report like the one in La County,
which totally avoided explaining who is responsible, who is to blame, yes,
(32:21):
blame playing the blame game, who did the wrong thing,
who didn't do their job? We'll keep on that so
is Sayed Kashani, the attorney. He lost his home in
the Palisades. He's gonna come on with us again next
Deborah Mark live in the CAFI twenty four our newsroom. Hey,
you've been listening to The John Covelt Show podcast. You
can always hear the show live on KFI AM six
(32:44):
forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course, anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Can't. I am six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We're on from one until four and after four o'clock.
John Cobelt's show on demand on the iHeart app. What
happened to the Tracy Park press conference? I'd still just
never not never got off the ground still hasn't started.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
All right, all right, we'll bring it to you when
it happens.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
We have more to tell you about the fire that
they got the suspect today, Jonathan Render knocked and there's
this is only the beginning. Okay, this is a big piece.
Who did it? But it turns out to be a
crazy person like a lot of arsonists are, and he
(00:40):
got off on doing it.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, he's an Uber driver.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So this is why we'll take Uber, I don't take
like regular Uber, because this is the guy that shows
up like mister arsonist, shows up late at night. He
was driving around on New Year's Eve dropping people off,
and then stopped and started the fire that became the
biggest most damaging blazeonel history. And it was just greasy
looking freak. All right, let's get to here's another story.
(01:08):
We were following quite a bit. A couple of weeks ago,
Ricardo Lara cal Fart Lara, he's the insurance commissioner and
KGO TV up in San Francisco, did a very long,
ten minute story. It's actually the second time they've covered
this issue, and this was much more information. He's gone
(01:30):
on forty eight trips while insurance commissioner over the last
six years, seven years, and many of them he charged
to the taxpayers just tens of thousands of dollars. And
many of these trips had nothing to do with insurance,
nothing to do with government, nothing to do with us.
(01:50):
He's going to Pride Week in New York City.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
He went.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Down a safari in South Africa. He went to some
conference of gay politicians to talk about what it's like
being gay at a politician charged this all brought big security,
private security.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Not only that, but he had they also had chp
and and other trips that were for pleasure, were for fun.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Well, we're going to talk now with David tangipa California
State Assemblyman, and we're going to find out if anybody
in government. It looks like the California Affair Political Practices
Commission is going to look into this but is anybody
in government going to hold this guy to accountable. He's
not explaining any of that. Let's let's get David on.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
How are you.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I'm doing well? How you doing?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I'm fine? Well, what's going on with this story?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Well, I think if you saw my statement, I feel
the exact same way you do. I was reading this
report and I was like, it's insanity that not enough people,
the media and everybody else aren't talking about this. It's
insanity to me that we haven't already called for his resignation. So,
as a freshman legislator, I told my team, let's get
(03:13):
it together. We're going to hold this guy accountable, and
we're going to ask for his resignation and disgrace because
what does a safari have to deal with do with insurance?
What does a lavish trip to five star in penthouse
hotels have to do with insurance? And especially if you're
in the LA area or in the southern California area
(03:34):
and you've had to stay in a motel because you
lost your property and you got canceled the week before,
or if you can't get or afford insurance right now,
or the prices are way too high, that it's more
than your mortgage that you ever paid for before. You
should be just as angry as I am because my
family had their property destroyed in the car fire. And
(03:56):
not only that, earlier this year, I was removed and
kicked off of the insurance Committee before it even started
because I wanted to ask the hard questions and I
knew that this would be a problem. But now our
insurance commissioner is flying off and having VIP parties with
DJ Kitty Glitter while people are suffering from the insurance
(04:16):
crisis and catastrophe that we are in. It is unacceptable,
and Ricardo Laura must resign.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
And he's getting protected by the Democratic Infrastructure and Sacramento.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Well this every single one of his trips were signed
off and approved by the governor's office. Really the way
it works, and if oh yeah, every single one of
these have to be signed off.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Wait wait, wait, So he puts in to go to
a Safari we pay for all the hotel and food
and transportation and all of security, and somebody at the
government's office looks at that and says, yeah, fine, sure,
go ahead.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Really exactly, that's exactly what happens. And that's the part
where I look at it, and there was a trip
was a forty eight hours, it was a two day trip.
He turned it into a two and a half week
vacation and submitted that as legislative purpose. That's how you
get these trips approved. You have to say that there's
(05:11):
a legislative purpose to it. And so he has weaponized
that entire system. And there's even times where I think
he spent about eleven six hundred dollars for a trip
in New York and didn't even attend any of the
insurance meetings and called it legislative purpose and it was
signed off by the governor's office. This isn't alleged. These
are the receipts that we are reading.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Oh my god, And that two and a half week
African safari was totally paid for by us, the tax payers.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
And it was a forty eight hour conference. It was
a two day conference that turned into two and a
half weeks, fully paid for thirty three thousand dollars people
of California.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
And Newsom's office signs off on it. And now nobody
wants to talk about this.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Huh.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Well, here's the worst part about it. This is a
very small portion of the forty plus trips. He went on,
we don't even have half of the reports yet.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
They won't release them from his office.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
We're waiting, and I can tell you this, we're demanding now.
And when I first got elected in the office, there
was this insurance. There was a roundtable under the California
Chamber of Commerce and it was called the new Kids
on the Block, and they asked each one of us
what was the most important issue in the state of California.
And I said, insurance, and insurance will collapse the state
(06:34):
because it is woven into every single fabric, into our business,
into our commercial business, into how we drive on a road,
into how we operate our day to day lives. And
there is a catastrophe coming and we were one large
scale disaster away from collapsing the entire system. And that
happened on January seventh with the Palisades and the Eton fire.
(06:55):
And they're going to say it's all of these other reasons.
It's potentially Donald Trump, it's climate change, Garah Lixen, and
negligence from the elected leaders in California. They are stealing
from you. I want every single voter to know this.
They are stealing from you. It feels like Marie Antoinette
let them eat cake, and the people here are suffering,
(07:15):
and the people in Sacramento don't even understand it, and
they are stealing from the Californians and they're doing it
right in front of our face. When are we going
to stand up and force them out?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Obviously, in a normal state, this would be something for
the Attorney General's office to investigate. But since that's not
going to happen because Rob Bonta is a member of
the club, is there any entity that can investigate this?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Well, I will tell you this, I will not stop.
I will exhaust every single option we can. We will
file as many reports as we can. I will call
on the federal administration. I will call on every single
aspect that I can find to make sure that we
can expose this because I have friends, I have family,
(08:00):
I have people I care about, and I have my
constituents that are telling me that they can't live their
day to day lives and they are choosing whether to
pay for insurance, food skipping a meal, or their utility cost.
And if we have people right now using taxpayer funds
to go on lavish trips in Champagne, suites. It is
despicable and we won't stop until we find somebody who
(08:21):
goes after them.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That's really disgusting.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
The California Fair Plan, which is the last resort for insurance,
that's going to go up thirty six percent the premiums
for next year. Thirty six percent increase was announced the
other day.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Exactly well, not only that the Fair Plan is in
such a dire state, and insurance is also so. I
used to be the vice chair of the Insurance Committee
and I was deep diving into everything. Here's the real
state of affairs of the Fair Plan. There was one
point two billion dollars held in the account for the
(08:57):
fires the Palisades wipe that entire serve out and left
us in a hole six hundred and eighty million dollars.
The State of California, under the Insurance Commissioner, issued a
reassessment that is paid for by every single taxpayer in
the State of California, of one billion dollars. That has
pulled us out of the hole and will leave us
three hundred and fifty million in the account to now
(09:20):
cover seven hundred billion in assets under the Fare Plan.
We don't have more than one percent in reserves for
the next fire. The sad part about this is what
that means is if you're next in line in an
area that is highly covered by the fare plan, you
(09:41):
just better hope that your home burns down first, because
if your home burned down burns down last, there is
no money in the account. There is nothing there if
we lose again another fire, just like the Palisades, and
which actually one of the largest areas of risk right
now is the Big Bear area in that southern San
Jose area. You follow the cancelations, you'll find the risk.
(10:05):
Those areas have billions of dollars under exposure, and we
only have three hundred and fifty million for the next
large scale catastrophe. It is it is insanity that anybody
who is in charge of insurance in the state of
California can even take one day of break, because the
people of California are suffering.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
David, we will keep talking about this. Everything you find out,
please let us know. We'll put you on immediately.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Okay, I'm relentless, I'm not married, i don't have kids,
so this is my baby and I'm gonna hold them
accountable to.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
It, all right, David ted GEEPA he's a Republican assemblyment
and that Ricardo Larra going off on dozens of trips
that nobody wants to explain, and the few trips that
have been explained by KGOTV up in San Francisco, he
spent tens of thousands of dollars two and a half
weeks a Safari trip in Africa, and we paid for everything,
(10:57):
five star hotels, an enormous amount of private security, extreme scandal,
and not a.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Word from anybody in government.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
And as he said, signed off by Newsom's office, go ahead,
enjoy your two and a half weeks.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Sure the suckers will pay for it.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
Boor coming up, you're listening to John Cobelt on demand
from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Coming up after a two point thirty, we're going to
have Roger Bailey, he's the attorney representing many many Palisades residents,
to talk about the big bombshell. This morning, the US
Attorney Bill of Sale held a press conference along with
other officials, and they announced they have a suspect in
the Palisades fire. Jonathan rinder Nack, a twenty nine year
(11:43):
old who lived in the Palisades before fleeing to Florida,
after he realized that the Feds were onto him. He'd
started it as an arson case New Year's Day.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
He was I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
He went to check at GPT and had some kind
of artwork created about a fire in a forest along
with a crowd looking at it, and he was listening
to some French song, a rap song, and the video
showed fire images and he had a fire obsession. This
was all feeding in into his head. He was just
(12:20):
one of these greasy looking losers who was an uber driver.
And people remembered driving the uber New Year's Eve in
the Palisades and at some point after midnight he got
out of the uber and went up there and started
the fire. And they suppressed it the fire department after
a few hours, but then seven days later it reignited
(12:43):
because of the strong winds and all the things that
most people in the Palisades want to know, no answers.
Yet after nine months, why did they put it out completely?
Why do they leave it to smolder? Where's the mayor
in Africa?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Right?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Where's Kristin Crowley, the fire chief? Why didn't she send
a crew to monitor once it became clear it was
going to be a windy, windy day. Had she sent
a crew there, maybe none of this fire damage would
have happened. Maybe six thousand families would still have their homes,
maybe twelve people wouldn't die. How many people would they
have needed to go back to the site of the
original fire, And according to an assistant fire chief in
(13:24):
the New York Times, he said, yeah, that's what you do,
because the fire remained smoldering in the dense vegetation down believe,
down below. In fact, Oh, that's right, We've got Carl.
Let's do Carl Demyo here, Sorry about that, Carl Demyo.
(13:44):
He's got a lot of events today. He's the Republican
to send them in. He heads reform California, and today's
the day that you can go to his sites. And well,
let Carl tell if somebody goes to your site today,
what can they get?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
What can they do?
Speaker 5 (14:00):
So we're going to do a couple things. Number one,
we're trying to do the California.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Voter ID initiative.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
We need a million signatures on petitions, so we want
people to sign the petition and also they can pick
up additional copies of the petition to take home to
friends and family to circulate it and get more signatures
and return them. We also have no on Prop fifty materials,
lawn signs and other materials available to distribute today and
(14:28):
at other events throughout the next several weeks. So today,
we're in ten locations in southern California in the KFI
listening audience area. Temecula, Corona, San Bernardino, Escandido, San Diego,
Mission Valley, Thousand Oaks, Santa Clarita, Torrents, Huntington Beach, Tustin,
and Laguna. You can get a complete list of addresses
(14:50):
where we are at giving out the petition and collecting
signatures at voterid events dot org or go to join
Caral dot org or join Carl dot org. That's Carl
to see. We also have other events coming up in
the next couple of weeks in southern California at different
times and locations. We have all of those events at
(15:12):
that same website. We need people to get engaged to
collect signatures for voter ID to get out the message
as to why people should vote no on Prop fifty.
The best way for you to engage in the campaign
show up at one of these events, the ones that
we're holding this afternoon in front of all these stores
throughout southern California, or at one of the events coming
(15:33):
up in your area in the coming weeks.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
All right, Carl Demile, talk again later. Thank you, thank you,
thank you. All right, So, all.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Right, after Debra's news, we're gonna Roger Bailey come on
the attorney because it was quite a bombshell today and
we'll talk about the work that they went through to
get the We're gonna play some clips from the from
Kenny Cooper, he's Special Agent in charge of LA's Field
Division for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and
(16:04):
they were literally crawling around on their hands and knees
looking for the evidence to a pinpoint to how the
fire started, where it started, who started.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
It, and all.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
That was quite an investigation that took nine months. So
now that we have those questions answered, how about the response,
the horrific response, and the lack of action by the
fire department to tend to the hotspot there, because apparently
it's common knowledge in the firefighting industry. You have a hotspot,
(16:33):
you have strong winds, it can whip up and turn
into a big blaze a few days later. Roger Bailey,
the attorney representing many Palisades residents, is going to be
on next also after three o'clock, Sayid Kashani. He's another
attorney from the Palisades who's been with us frequently. He
goes to public meetings about this, and he lost his home.
So continuous coverage about this coming up.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
You're listening to John Cobels from KFI A six forty.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Attention tax jeets.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
The IRIS is furlowing almost half its workforce and shuddering
most of their operations because of the government shut down.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
So does this mean that we don't have to pay
our taxes? I believe? So, okay, cool, all right, let's
get Roger Bailey on.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Roger Bailey's attorney representing many many Palisades residents. And today
we found out that Jonathan rendered act is the arsonists
who started the fire. But he said it on the
first of January, and after the fire department suppressed it,
it continued smoldering in the vegetation and reignited when the
(17:42):
winds blew on January seventh, And we know the story
from there, but they have the guy, and let's talk
to Roger Bailey.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
How are you Roger good John, how are you. What's
your first reaction when you heard this?
Speaker 6 (17:57):
Well, I have to tell you, we knew this was
coming months out. We didn't know the particulars, but we
knew there was a criminal investigation, and we knew that
that investigation was focused on the January one Lachmann fire,
not the Palisades fire. So what's important for people to
understand is there really are two separate fires, one on
(18:19):
January one, which was declared fully contained on January one,
and then we have the Palisades fire starting on January seventh.
And the cause of Palisades, as we talked about the
last two times I was with you, was a rekindling
of some members that were remaining on the state's land
(18:40):
for six days. So we kind of knew this was coming,
and I've already factored it into our analysis.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Well, this but also give you confirmation for what you're
going to be when you start going after depositions and
you start making demands and claims against the city, it
looks like they should have put it out and monitored
the fire, especially during the windstorm. I mean, there's some
(19:10):
kind of massive neglect and incompetence going on here. That
the fire commanders didn't keep a crew there or have
one show up on January seventh.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
Now, that's exactly right. You know, this was a small
fire relatively speaking, on January one. And you know the
protocol is when you declare a fire fully contained or extinguished,
you position watch crews and you know, they even have
these thermal scopes that can detect heat in the ground
(19:42):
and everything, so there's a protocol that they follow. But
this Palisades fire. The other thing the US Attorney confirmed
is that the Palistats fire started on state land. Now,
you remember last time we spoke together, Newsom had gone
public and said Palisades fire started on Stetter property. Well,
we just heard from the FEDS today that no, in fact,
(20:05):
the Pali States fire started on state land. Therefore, it
was the state's obligation to go out and inspect the
land make sure there weren't any lingering embers, and none
of that happened. We don't know what they were doing,
but they certainly weren't out looking at the burn scar
from this January one fire.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Oh so it rekindled on state.
Speaker 6 (20:26):
Land, absolutely true. Yeah, and that's confirmed. And if you
look at the criminal complaint that was filed today. There's
a nice chart that shows where the Lockman fire started
on January one, and then there's a in that same chart,
it shows where the Palisades fire started, and it's squarely
on state land, just as we alleged several months ago.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
But LA Fire Department responded. Were there any state firefighters
that responded as well? Like, when you have a fire
like that, who's got the jurisdiction to put it out?
Speaker 6 (21:00):
Well, it's state land, and I don't know whether you
remember of it. Last time I was with you, we
were fascinated that Newsom reported that he dispatched, you know,
all of these fire engines and National Guard troops pre
deployed them. And then when we got the records, there
was no state engines and no state troopers that were
(21:23):
dispatched to the Palisades fire. So sometimes the state can
can delegate to the you know, the LAFD, you know,
will you go and check things out, But the buck
stops with the state. It's it's the state's land and
they have an obligation to make sure somebody's there inspecting
their land. And that didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
He lies about everything.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Seriously, I'm actually astonished on how consistently he lies big issues,
small issues, it doesn't matter. Wow, that's uh yeah, that's
something else. Uh So what else did you hear that
bolsters or changes your case today?
Speaker 6 (22:06):
Well, we got the details about this particular arsonist, and
I suppose what jumped out of it to me is
just a citizen is I can't imagine a maneuverer driver
with a lighter is capable of burning down the palisades.
But apparently that's the claim is this guy got up
into the brush on the first of January and with
(22:30):
a lighter started a fire, and the end result of that,
according to them, was that all of the palisades burned down.
And we know there were so many intervening failures by
the government, beginning with the state not to inspect its
land to make sure there were no embers, and then
continuing with the city having the Sanaaz Reservoir drained and
(22:51):
rendered that entire water supply system inoperable. So with no
sen Inez online, the pressure in that system so that
you turn on the first few hydrants and the pressure
drops and ultimately they run out of water. And then
they didn't turn off the power, so all of the
every damage that we see.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, everything failed.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
The failure of the government. Yeah, I mean any of
the government.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I just can't believe that the hydrants failed, the reservoir
was empty, they didn't turn off the power, they didn't
clear out the vegetation, they didn't monitor the site of
the original fire.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Nothing, they didn't do anything.
Speaker 6 (23:31):
That's why it's so outland just to think a guy
with a light or can burn down the Palisades, It's
just it's inconceivable. But that's you know, that's what we
have because of the government failures, the intervening government failures,
not having water, not turning off the power, not inspecting
the state land to make sure there were no embers.
All of that resulted in the Palisades devastation.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
And everybody just bops along and they continue to live
their lives in government. Only Kristin Crowley, the fire chief.
She was used as a scapegoat and fired. But everybody
else keeps earning their pensions, earning their paychecks, keeping their position,
not responding in any way to any scrutiny, and outside
(24:14):
of your law firm and others, nobody's even providing any
scrutiny anymore. Nine months have gone by, and this is
no longer news, this is no longer part of the conversation.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
It's massive deflection. No one stepped up to accept accountability
and responsibility. They want, apparently, they want the public to
accept that this one uber driver is the sole reason
the Palisades doesn't exist anymore. And we know that's just
not the case. Governments failed massively before, during, and after
(24:47):
the fire.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Well, I know firsthand that the residents in the Palisades
are not buying it. They know what went on. Roger,
keep fighting. We'll talk with you again soon. Thank you.
Speaker 6 (24:58):
You bet to take care. John.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
All right, that's Roger Bailey, an attorney for many many
of the Palisades residents. Coming up after three o'clock, We're
going to talk to another attorney from the Palisades. He
lost his house entirely. He's been on our show many times,
and he shows up at the meeting, said Kashani, And
we'll get his response to the suspect, Jonathan Kindernoch being
(25:24):
named today. Also, we got to play you that Katie
Porter interview later on in the show. Katie Porter, who's
supposed to be the top Republican I'm sorry, the top
Democratic ubernatorial candidate. She's on top of the polls, ahead
of all the other candidates from both parties. We call
her missus potato Head. Missus potato Head got very angry
(25:48):
with an interviewer up in Northern California for CBS. We're
going to play you the whole clip because she got
upset that the report was asking follow up questions. This lady,
Katie Porter, is not mentally stable and should not be
anywhere near the governor's office.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
More coming up.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Six forty after three o'clock.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
We're going to talk to attorney said Kashani has been
with us quite a few times about the Palisades fire.
He lost his home in the fire, and he has
been challenging public officials all by himself, it seems at times,
going to meetings. We'll talk to about his reaction to
Jonathan Rindernach being declared the suspect, and it does seem
(26:41):
like they really have the goods on him. So this
morning was the big press conference hosted by US Attorney
Bill Saley. What I want to focus on is one
of the speakers was the ATF Special Agent in charge
of LA's Field Division, Kenny Cooper, because we told you
about how when the fire was put out on January first,
(27:04):
it's still smoldered beneath the surface in the thick vegetation.
In fact, even the roots below the surface were smoldering
as well. And here's Kenny Cooper. We're going to do
cut fourteen talking about how the investigators did their job
(27:26):
to determine the origin of the fire.
Speaker 7 (27:29):
ATF did not identify this suspect and rule and focus
specifically on the suspect. We still utilize our scientific process
and part of the lengthy time that.
Speaker 6 (27:43):
It took to go over these thousands.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
Of acres that were burned is we literally had agents
with our partners on their hands and knees, crawling through
fire debris. They're observing fire behavior patterns, they're flagging patterns.
An example of that fire will cause natural debris to
twist and freeze in a position pointing to the origin.
(28:09):
So looking at all those fire patterns flagging those, ATF
was able to zone to specifically get into the origin
of where that fire started from. Once they dialed into
the origin, using all the investigative techniques that they have
then they start really dialing into the very specific spot
(28:31):
that that fire was created.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
If only.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
The management the Alley Fire Department was is meticulous in
monitoring that burn area from January first, as much as
the ATF here was in investigating the cause. Now here's
Kenny Cooper, and again he's Special Agent in charge of
LA's Field Division, about how they know, because I think,
(28:59):
as Stanley said the press conference, this was not a
rest based on problem cause they know beyond a reasonable doubt.
They'll prove this in court and convict Jonathan Ridernacht. And
here is Kenny Cooper explaining how they know with such certainty,
And that's number sixteen.
Speaker 7 (29:19):
We went through exhaustive efforts to look at potential ignition sources,
whether they were fireworks where there are the down power lines,
or any other source of ignition. They went down those
investigative paths with exhaustive length to either rule them in
or rule them out with clarity. We know this is
(29:41):
incinary fire and that the subject that we arrested started it. Obviously,
the burn scar and the fire from the initial January
first Lockman fire was re examined by our investigators and
with complete sur they were able to see from the
(30:02):
same fire behaviors from them crawling on their hands and knees,
digging up roots, digging up all the evidence supplying that
fuel to the fire research lab they were able to
and also in collaboration of other data and other evidence.
We have fixed surveillance points, we have witnesses that were
up with their phones, We have a lot of different
(30:23):
data that all concluded where this fire started and the
fire behavior from that origin from that Lockman fire was
clearly established in the Palisades fire.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
So there's certain that the origin was the January first fire.
They're certain it was Jonathan Rindernacht who started the fire,
you know, with a lighter. So again the questions, and
we're going to keep on this every day that Karen
Bass is still there. Why did she go to Africa
(30:56):
when she had all those warnings. Why did she not
convene a meeting with the fire chief, with Genie Keinonias
and find out if they had a crew monitoring that hotspot.
The most likely place for a fire, once they knew
five days in advance that the winds were coming, the
most likely place for a fire would be the rekindling
(31:17):
of the Lockman fire. They knew that exact spot because
they had just claimed to have put it out a
few days earlier. But it wasn't put out. It was
smoldering still, So why wasn't there a crew there immediately?
That's what Bass should have been asking about. That's what
Kristin Crowley should have been telling her about. Did any
(31:37):
of them know that there was a reservoir that was
unfilled because of Genie Keinonias? It is Bass, it is Crowley,
it is Kenonas oh I got a lot of diversity there, don'tly,
but no explanations from the three of them. They used
Crowley's a scapegoat, but she's never fully explained her decisions,
and Bass is just hoping this all goes away. You
(32:00):
didn't see her anywhere near microphone today, did you either, Canonias.
There's no investigative agency here, nobody in the state, no
Rob Bonta looking at this. Let me guess we're gonna
get another after action report like the one in La County,
which totally avoided explaining who is responsible, who is to blame, yes,
(32:21):
blame playing the blame game, who did the wrong thing,
who didn't do their job? We'll keep on that so
is Sayed Kashani, the attorney. He lost his home in
the Palisades. He's gonna come on with us again next
Deborah Mark live in the CAFI twenty four our newsroom. Hey,
you've been listening to The John Covelt Show podcast. You
can always hear the show live on KFI AM six
(32:44):
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
Host
John Kobylt
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