{"id":287370,"date":"2025-10-08T20:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T20:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/287370\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T20:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T20:12:11","slug":"house-republicans-launch-investigation-into-distribution-of-l-a-fire-charity-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/287370\/","title":{"rendered":"House Republicans launch investigation into distribution of L.A. fire charity funds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Two House Republicans launched an investigation on Wednesday that will, in part, examine how a California charitable organization used a $500,000 grant that was meant to support victims of the deadly Palisades and Eaton fires, a move that is expanding congressional scrutiny<\/a> over the response to the disaster.<\/p>\n

Reps. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent a letter to the head of the California Volunteers Fund asking for financial records related to a $500,000 grant<\/a> it received from the disaster-relief charity FireAid, which raised an estimated $100 million for fire victims<\/a> through its flagship benefit concerts in January. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not publicly known how the California Volunteers Fund distributed this $500,000, or what individuals or entities received funds,\u201d Kiley and Jordan wrote in a letter Wednesday to Dave Smith, the fund\u2019s chief executive. \u201cIt is also unclear whether the state-based California Volunteers, run out of the Governor\u2019s Office, received any of the FireAid-originated funds via the California Volunteers Fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiley and Jordan added that they want to examine all documents and communications related to the California fires between the California Volunteers Fund and California Volunteers, an entity that the charity supports and is housed within Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s office. <\/p>\n

In their letter, they said FireAid has \u201ccome under scrutiny for diverting donations to nonprofits instead of providing direct relief to fire victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

The California Volunteers Fund and the governor\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.<\/p>\n

The congressional inquiry into the distribution of disaster relief funds comes after months of pressure from Republican politicians, including President Trump, who have questioned FireAid\u2019s methods and priorities. In July, Kiley called for an investigation into the charitable funds, urging the attorney general to open an investigation into the matter.<\/p>\n

Politically, the investigation comes as Newsom \u2014 whose office was mentioned several times in the letter \u2014 becomes a frequent political target of Trump and Republicans amid speculation that he could be eyeing a potential 2028 presidential run.<\/p>\n

In response to the criticism, FireAid commissioned two audit reports, including an independent review led by law firm Latham & Watkins that found no evidence of fraud or misuse of funds.<\/a> The reports were sent to local and federal officials and the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law firm conducted an independent review of the charity, and shared conclusive findings affirming that FireAid has acted in accordance with mission, has strong accountability measures and aid is reaching affected communities,\u201d the FireAid organization said in a statement about the review findings at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Two House Republicans launched an investigation on Wednesday that will, in part, examine how a California charitable organization…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":287371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,147772,9728,63175,60028,147774,5022,117491,74552,147775,2961,147773,19945,224,5337,1812,1807,25548,7307],"class_list":{"0":"post-287370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-volunteers-fund","11":"tag-distribution","12":"tag-fireaid","13":"tag-house-republicans","14":"tag-independent-review","15":"tag-investigation","16":"tag-jim-jordan","17":"tag-kevin-kiley","18":"tag-l-a-fire-charity-fund","19":"tag-la","20":"tag-law-firm-latham","21":"tag-letter","22":"tag-los-angeles","23":"tag-losangeles","24":"tag-office","25":"tag-president-trump","26":"tag-response","27":"tag-victim"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115340374440133816","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}