Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told The New York Times in 2021 that she had no intention of traveling abroad if elected mayor, the newspaper reported on Sunday.
If he wins the election in 2021, Bass said, “Of course I will not only live here, but I will not travel abroad. The only places I will go are Washington, D.C., Sacramento, San Francisco and New York.” L.A.” Reported time.
The mayor was traveling to Ghana when the Los Angeles fires hit last week, and upon returning home Bass ignored questions from reporters about his absence.
Bass previously served in Congress, specifically on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and has spent several years working on U.S.-Africa relations, according to the Times.
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Los Angeles mayoral candidate Congresswoman Karen Bass gathers with various prominent supporters at Angel's Point at Elysian Park on May 27, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. ((Jason Almond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images))
“That promise has been spectacularly broken,” the Times reported.
According to the Times, Bass has traveled abroad four times since becoming mayor, once to Mexico and three times to Paris for the Olympics.
“Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent while your house was on fire? And do you regret cutting the fire department's budget by millions of dollars, Mayor?” Wednesday on a trip to Ghana asked Sky News reporter David Blevins as the bus waited to disembark.
“Is there anything you would like to say to the people today?” he added.
Bass refused to acknowledge the reporter's presence and continued to ignore questions while looking at the ground.
“You have no apologies to them? Do you think they should have visited Ghana while this was happening in their home country?” he said.
“The Mayor's focus right now is on two things: keeping Angelenos safe and protecting property. She is committed to securing the federal, state, and local resources needed to continue fighting these fires. We have secured a full recovery and are proceeding with all of the plans listed above for recovery,'' Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Administrator Matt Szabo present the 2024-25 budget at City Hall. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Bass was also called out in a 2021 social media post criticizing Sen. Ted Cruz for being out of the state while Texas dealt with a winter storm.
Bass said at a news conference Wednesday that he had been communicating with people on the flight back to Los Angeles.
“I spent almost every hour of the flight on the phone or on the plane,” she said. “So even though I wasn't actually here, I was in contact with a lot of people who were standing here all the while. As soon as the plane landed, I went to the fire zone and the Pacific I saw what was happening in the Palisades.”
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FOX News' Sarah Rumpf-Witten contributed to this report.
