Businessman Rick Caruso considers running for LA mayor in wake of Palisades Fire report

Businessman Rick Caruso, who last month announced that he would not seek elected office after an unsuccessful run against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, indicated this week that he is reconsidering in light of new allegations that Bass pushed for a report on the Palisades Fire to be watered down.

Caruso, who lost the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral contest to Bass, slammed the mayor in a Wednesday post on X.

“Today’s @latimes report is an absolute outrage. Karen Bass actively covered up a report meant to examine the most significant disaster in Los Angeles history. When it comes to life safety matters, this is no longer a matter of making poor judgement, apologizing and moving forward,” Caruso asserted in the post. 

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“This is a complete loss of public trust and an intentional act of covering up the actions that led to people dying. Everyone should read this article and consider what action is warranted. She has completely failed us,” he added.

In a statement issued last month, Caruso had said that he “decided not to pursue elected office at this time.”

But he indicated to KTTV on Wednesday that he was reconsidering based on the Los Angeles Times report.

Asked if he was reconsidering his decision, Caruso told the outlet that he was “certainly thinking about it.”

Asked if it was the article on Wednesday that made him reconsider, he said, “Yeah, yeah. Because incompetence is one thing. But it’s very different to mix incompetence, and now you’ve got somebody who is actively lying to the people that she has sworn to serve,” Caruso said.

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Sources reportedly told the Times that two individuals close to the mayor informed them about Bass’ part in watering down the fire report. The newspaper noted that one source claimed to have spoken with both individuals, while the other source claimed to have spoken with one of the individuals. The Times reported that one person asserted to one of the sources that “the mayor didn’t tell the truth when she said she had nothing to do with changing the report.”

The mayor’s office blasted the Times’ report in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Mayor Bass has been unequivocal for months — she reviewed an early draft of the report and only asked the LAFD to make sure it was accurate on issues like weather and budget. She and her staff made no changes to the drafts,” the statement provided to Fox News Digital asserted.

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“The Mayor has been clear about her concerns regarding pre-deployment and the LAFD’s response to the fire, which is why there is new leadership at LAFD and why she called for an independent review of the Lachman Fire mop-up. There is absolutely no reason why she would request those details be altered or erased when she herself has been critical of the response to the fire – full stop,” Bass’ office added. “She has said this for months.”

“This is muckraking journalism at its lowest form. It is dangerous and irresponsible for Los Angeles Times reporters to rely on third hand unsourced information to make unsubstantiated character attacks to advance a narrative that is false,” the statement added.