gotchanewsdaily.com 
CNN
—
President Joe Biden will no longer travel to Rome, Italy, this week as scheduled, the White House announced late Wednesday, canceling the trip in the final days of his presidency to monitor raging wildfires across the Los Angeles, California, area.
“After returning this evening from Los Angeles, where earlier today he had met with police, fire and emergency personnel fighting the historic fires raging in the area and approved a Major Disaster declaration for California, President Biden made the decision to cancel his upcoming trip to Italy to remain focused on directing the full federal response in the days ahead,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Six wind-driven fires blazing across Los Angeles County remain mostly uncontained, with authorities issuing evacuation orders late Wednesday related to a brushfire in the Hollywood Hills near Runyon Canyon.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that as of Wednesday night, there were “five dead, likely more.”
“Just complete and utter devastation, and I’ve been to a lot of these fires, a lot, going back to Paradise. This approximates Paradise,” Newsom, a Democrat, said.
Biden was scheduled to travel to Rome on Thursday, where the White House said earlier in the day that he’d meet with Pope Francis, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
It’s not the first time domestic issues have forced Biden to upend foreign travel. In October, Biden postponed a scheduled trip to Germany and Angola as Hurricane Milton made landfall.
And just this week, Biden had been set to travel to the Coachella Valley and designate a new national monument, but the wildfires escalated significantly after he touched down in Los Angeles Monday with intensifying winds ultimately canceling the event.
The natural disaster scrambled the president’s plans and led to him receiving a briefing from local officials in Santa Monica Wednesday before he was scheduled to return to Washington.
There, Biden touted the federal response and vowed that the government was “prepared to do anything and everything as long as it takes to contain these fires and help reconstruct, make sure we get to normal.”
“It’s going to be a hell of a long way, it’s going to take time, but the federal government is here to stay as long as you need it and everything you need,” Biden, who was also in Los Angeles for the birth of his great-grandchild, said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
