Bateman insists Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov Gavin Newsom be removed from office
Justine Bateman on CA fires: 'If you’re going to run a city, you have to take care of the basics'
Filmmaker and author Justine Bateman discusses how city mismanagement in L.A. led to out of control wildfires on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’
Justine Bateman is calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Los Angeles officials to be removed from office.
The actress insisted Newsom be removed after sharing a video of the California governor saying he wants to work with President-elect Donald Trump on fighting the fires.
"I really want other CA voters to see the lack of sincerity, the dismissiveness, the dedication to pretentiousness, and the dereliction of care for the citizens of California," Bateman wrote on X.
"He has always demonstrated this. In every video. You cannot trust this kind of person with any role, and especially not one upon which our wellbeing depends," she added. "Gavin Newsom needs to be removed, before something worse happens here."
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Justine Bateman called for Gov. Gavin Newsom to be removed. (Getty Images)
"You cannot trust this kind of person with any role, and especially not one upon which our wellbeing depends. Gavin Newsom needs to be removed, before something worse happens here."
— Justine Bateman
She also called for LA Mayor Karen Bass to be removed, writing, "Her irresponsibility and apathy towards the people of Los Angeles is reprehensible. Leaving the country days after being notified of weather conditions that everyone who lives in LA knows are prime disaster fire conditions is unforgivable. This on top of her knowing that efforts to mitigate maximum damage had not been done at all. We cannot wait for another calamitous demonstration of her ineptitude. She must be removed."
Justine Bateman has also called for the removal of LA Mayor Karen Bass, pictured here, saying, "Her irresponsibility and apathy towards the people of Los Angeles is reprehensible." (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Bateman, known for her role on "Family Ties," has been outspoken regarding her views since the fires began. The filmmaker continues to share her criticism on social media and appeared on Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime."
"I'm pretty pissed, and I think a lot of people in Los Angeles are pissed," Bateman said on Jan. 9.
"If you are going to run a city or run a state, you have to take care of the basics, and that's to make sure that your fire and your police department are well-funded," she added.
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The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds on Jan. 7. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Bateman explained the importance of "rehearsed" planning in order to minimize the consequences of natural disasters. The actress noted Los Angeles' current leadership was "incapable" of planning for these major events.
"If you can't cover the basics, get out of our city. You are useless to us. You are a liability, and you have destroyed people's lives because you didn't do your job," she said.
"You didn't do what you were hired for. You didn't do what we pay you for." Bateman called for the officials to "resign out of shame and responsibility for the people whose lives you've destroyed right now."
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Kevin Marshall sifts through his mother's fire-ravaged property in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 11. (AP Photo/John Locher)
The LA Fires began Jan. 7 with the Palisades Fire. Fierce Santa Ana winds have been largely blamed for turning the fires sparked last week into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around the nation's second-largest city, where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.
The Southern California fires remain hard to control amid the current high winds, but firefighters are making progress and the fires have not spread very much over the past couple of days.
Altogether, the fires in the Los Angeles area have burned roughly 63.5 square miles (164 square kilometers) and damaged or destroyed more than 12,000 structures, leaving 24 dead.
Firefighters respond to homes destroyed while a helicopter drops water as the Palisades Fire grows on Jan. 7. (DAVID SWANSON/AFP via Getty Images)
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
