President Donald Trump is right about his claims that California has a water problem, but it was environmental rules, not a lack of water, that were the major factor in the growth of the state’s wildfires, Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., said on Newsmax Thursday.

“We have a serious water problem of our own making,” McClintock said on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.” “I’m not sure that was a big factor in these fires, though. The big factor in these fires was all of the environmental policies that the left has imposed on California, which have made it impossible for us to maintain the land, so they don’t burn as intensely.”

Trump on Wednesday threatened to withhold federal disaster aid for Los Angeles unless the state changes its approach to water management. He also repeated claims that the state’s fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state, under Gov. Gavin Newsom, are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas.

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