President Donald Trump visited Los Angeles on Friday afternoon to tour the devastation left by several deadly wildfires that broke out earlier this month, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom was the first to welcome him. Air Force One touched down at LAX around 2:55 p.m. with a delegation that included First Lady Melania Trump. The president and the governor met on the tarmac and exchanged a friendly handshake before addressing the assembled media together. "I appreciate the governor coming out and meeting me," Trump said. "We want to get the problem fixed ... It's like you got hit by a bomb." Trump arrived in L.A. to tour the destruction left by the Palisades Fire and meet with local legislators at a Los Angeles Fire Department station. Newsom thanked the president for traveling to see the devastation firsthand and called on collaboration and unity moving forward to rebuild the once-thriving communities that were reduced to rubble. "We’re going to need your help," Newsom said of Trump. "It means a great deal to all of us. Not just the folks in Palisades, the folks in Altadena who were devastated, we're going to need your support." Forecasted rainfall presents new risks for wildfire-affected areas in Los Angeles Newsom expressed confidence in maintaining a productive working relationship as the city recovers from the deadly wildfires, likening the crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the rare instances when California and Trump aligned on a common goal. "You were there for us during COVID," Newsom said of the president. "I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations we’ll be able to work together to get this speedy recovery." President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive at LAX prior to touring the damage left by the Palisades Fire on Jan. 24, 2025. (Pool) Trump's return to California as president comes in the midst of an ongoing war of words with Newsom, who has pushed back on the president's assertions that the state's fires were mishandled or that California leaders hamstrung firefighting efforts. Prior to arriving in California Friday, Trump told reporters in North Carolina that the Federal Government would not provide aid to Los Angeles recovery efforts unless new voter ID laws were passed and changes were made to the state's water management system. Trump has repeatedly claimed that California could have provided more water to firefighters battling the Palisades and Eaton fires by simply turning a valve, a notion that Newsom and water management experts have said is not true. A view of burnt Bank of America in Pacific Palisades ahead of President Donald Trump's visit in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2025. (Getty Images)A view of burned businesses in downtown Pacific Palisades following the massive Los Angeles fire ahead of President Donald Trump's visit in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2025. ( Getty Images)The remains of beachside homes that burned along Pacific Coast Highway during the Palisades Fire in Malibu on Jan. 15, 2025. (Getty Images) “Maybe the president just doesn’t know that there’s not a spigot that can be turned to solve all the water problems that he alleges exist, that don’t exist, as it relates to the state water system here in Southern California,” Newsom said of those claims earlier this week. Newsom has also pushed back on accusations that California has mismanaged its forests, emphasizing that the state oversees only about 3% of its forestland, while the majority is under federal management. California Gov. Gavin Newsom waits for President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump to step off Air Force One upon their arrival at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo) Despite trading barbs on social media and in the press, Newsom said he would be willing to meet Trump at LAX upon his arrival, but it was unclear if he would be on the tarmac when Air Force One arrived. Photos and video from the ground showed Newsom, as promised, waiting at the airport for the arrival of his longtime political rival. "We're looking to get something completed, and the way you get it completed is to work together," Trump said. The president, first lady and governor then departed LAX on the presidential helicopter, Marine One, to tour the destruction from the air before landing to continue on the ground.