LA Mayor Karen Bass Faces Scrutiny Over Deleted Text Messages During Wildfire Crisis

Bass' phone settings and document retention practices raise questions about compliance with city and state record-keeping policies.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass' text messages from January 7–8, during the Palisades wildfire, were automatically deleted due to her phone's settings.
City lawyer David Michaelson stated that Bass' phone has auto-deleted messages for at least two years, claiming no legal requirement exists to save them.
The Los Angeles Administrative Code mandates most records be kept for at least two years, but its application to text messages is debated.
Public records requests for Bass' communications during her return from a trip to Ghana were denied due to the absence of saved messages.
Critics argue that the deletion undermines transparency and accountability during a critical period of the wildfire response.