Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was seen in newly unearthed photos Tuesday attending a cocktail party in the African country as the country's first fire began to spread, sparking a controversy in Ghana. deflected questions about traveling abroad.
The embattled first-term city leader was attending a celebratory gathering at the US Ambassador's residence in Accra as part of a delegation sent by the White House for the inauguration of Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama. . The Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.
The newspaper reported that she was seen in a photo taken at a party around 8pm local time on January 7th. It was just before noon in Los Angeles, where evacuation orders were about to be issued regarding the Palisades fire. You can see it by quoting one photo where a person's clock is placed.
The photo was posted online by a city employee who was not part of the delegation, the newspaper said.
Bass, a liberal Democrat, has come under intense scrutiny over a trip he took to an African country around the time warnings of an approaching storm were issued in the California metropolitan area. After the fire forced mass evacuations and burned thousands of acres, she was finally able to return to Los Angeles.
Another set of Reportedly photo shows Bass smiling and posing with Ghanaian broadcaster Nathaniel Attoh at an event.
A spokesperson for the mayor told the Los Angeles Times that Bass and the rest of the U.S. delegation attended a cocktail party at the residence of the U.S. ambassador, where they stopped on their way to a military flight back to the United States. The plane landed in Washington, D.C., and from there, Bass hopped on a commercial plane and headed to Los Angeles.
“For most of the time, the mayor was in a separate room on a call from Los Angeles,” the spokesperson said, adding that the delegation departed between 8pm and 8:30pm local time and went straight to the tarmac. Ta.
According to the paper, Basu had boarded the military plane by 9pm Ghanaian time.
The mayor, a former U.S. congressman, previously swore in the New York Times In an interview ahead of the 2022 mayoral election, he said he would not travel abroad if elected.
When asked by CBS News about her trip to Ghana on Tuesday, she couldn't formulate an answer, according to footage. Posted online through the network.
“Looking back, do you think you were traveling abroad at the time?” asked reporter Jonathan Vigliotti.
“You know, I'm going to focus on us today,” she said, and Vigliotti interrupted and pressed her with a question, but she yelled “no” and turned away. directed.
Los Angeles residents continued to criticize Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom this week for the city and state's poor leadership and lack of preparation in the lead-up to the deadly fires.
The fires killed at least 25 people and destroyed more than 12,000 buildings in some of the country's most expensive regions.
