Gavin Newsom has accused the tech billionaire Elon Musk of “encouraging looting” in an escalation of a row over disinformation surrounding the deadly Los Angeles fires.
The California governor lashed out after Musk, who is President-elect Donald Trump’s wealthiest supporter, reposted a message on X – the social media platform he owns – that falsely accused the governor and his fellow Democrats of decriminalising looting.
“Stop encouraging looting by lying and telling people it’s decriminalized. It’s not,” Newsom wrote. “It’s illegal – as it always has been.”
The clash came amid concerns of a looting spree after owners who had been forced to abandon their homes as the flames spread later returned to find the contents had been burgled.
About 30 people have been arrested, most of them for suspected looting, since the fires threatened to engulf several Los Angeles neighbourhoods. One man was found at a fire-damaged home dressed as a firefighter and arrested. Two men were detained on Saturday outside the Los Angeles home of Kamala Harris – the vice-president whom Trump defeated in November to return to the White House – but were later released after no evidence of a burglary was found.
Newsom’s exchange with Musk was triggered by a user who posted a television interview in which the governor said there would be “zero tolerance for looters”.
Above the footage, the user wrote: “LOOTING: Newsom and California Democrats literally decriminalized looting, barring police from arresting looters and prosecutors from prosecuting them. Now he’s opposed to looting.”
Musk, who has been prominent in Republican criticism of the Democrat response to the fires, reposted the message with a clown emoji and a globe.
Trump, Musk and other leading Republicans have blamed the fires on liberal and “woke” policies they accuse the Democrats of prioritising over public safety, including measures to combat climate change. They have focused on Kristin Crowley, Los Angeles’s first female fire chief – who is gay – to portray a fire service more focused on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
The baseless accusation that Newsom had decriminalised looting appeared to stem from his opposition to changes to Proposition 47, a 2014 ballot initiative that reduced some minor offences from felonies to misdemeanours in an effort to free up prison space for more serious crimes.