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.
“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. Earlier this week, the White House canceled a scheduled event in Thermal, California, as the wildfires began to spread across the region.
This is a developing story and will be updated.