Los Angeles Mayor Bass reveals she is opening an investigation into why nobody told her not to travel to Africa
LA Mayor Bass reveals there are ongoing investigations into her heavily scrutinized Africa trip
LA Mayor Karen Bass appears to pin blame on team for allowing her to go to Ghana amid deadly fires. Credit: Fox 11 LA
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who has come under intense scrutiny for traveling to Africa last month amid a botched fire response, is deflecting blame on the controversial trip.
"I felt absolutely terrible not being here for my city," Bass, a Democrat, told a Fox 11 Los Angeles reporter in a recent interview.
"Would I say it was a mistake, absolutely. The idea that I was not present was very painful," she added, saying that proper "preparation didn't happen" to notify her ahead of the Ghana trip.
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Mayor Karen Bass discusses recovery efforts during a press conference in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 27, 2025. (Drew A. Kelley/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images)
She said she would not have even traveled south to San Diego had she been given the proper "preparation" about the fire danger.
"It didn’t reach that level to me to say 'Something terrible could happen and maybe you shouldn’t have gone on the trip,'" the Democrat added.
"I think that’s one of the things we need to look at, everything that happened, including that, needs to be examined," she continued, revealing that there are at least two investigations into the city's response to the fires.
The National Weather Service put out the "fire weather warning" on Jan. 3 and the mayor left for Africa the next day. She did not return until Jan. 8, according to Fox 11 LA.
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A Department of Corrections crew works containment lines ahead of the Palisades Fire, Jan. 14, 2025, in Santa Monica, California. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
The fire in the Pacific Palisades ripped through the community, burning down thousands of homes and businesses.
In another interview with NBC Los Angeles, Bass conceded her Africa trip was "absolutely" a mistake and that she was working to regain the public’s trust after facing backlash for her botched response to the raging fires in her city last month.
"Absolutely it is, and I think that I have to demonstrate that every day by showing what we're doing, what is working, what are the challenges," Bass told NBC Los Angeles when asked if she’s trying to "regain confidence."
Bass was in Ghana for the swearing-in of its president when the fires began, even though there was a high fire risk known at the time. The Palisades Fire started Jan. 7 and escalated through the night, but the mayor did not get back into the city until Jan. 8, and she did not answer repeated questions from a Sky News reporter upon her arrival in the United States.
"Yes, it was an ambush, and I wasn't sure who he was. And that is unfortunate because I see the way that looks, as if I was avoiding, but when you're getting off a plane you've been on a plane for 17 hours and someone hits you with a camera, I wish, in hindsight, my response had been better," the mayor told Fox 11 Los Angeles when asked about the viral clip.
She also claimed that the Biden administration asked her to travel to Africa on their behalf during the Fox 11 interview.
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass listens as Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks while touring fire damage. (Mayor Karen Bass/X)
Over 170,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for her to step down as mayor. The situation also resulted in public criticism of the mayor, ranging from former Democratic mayoral opponent Rick Caruso to liberal talk show host Bill Maher.
"LA's mayor, Karen Bass, the Nero of American politics, was fiddling in Ghana while the city burned," Maher said last month.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., suggested that Disney CEO Bob Iger run for mayor in 2026. When pressed on whether she took Khanna's comments personally, Bass shrugged it off.
"I am focused on one thing and one thing only, and that is to make sure that our city is able to recover and rebuild, and that all of those individuals that lived in the Palisades can go home," Bass told NBC Los Angeles.
Cameron Arcand is a politics writer at Fox News Digital in Washington D.C. Story tips can be sent to
