President Donald Trump is traveling to California Monday for a briefing on the raging fires that have brought devastation to the western coastal states in recent weeks and have also put a renewed focus on climate change.

While the Democratic governors of the impacted states say the fires represent the latest piece of hard evidence that global warming is a scientific reality impacting their communities, Trump has a history of expressing skepticism on the science of climate change and has argued that forest mismanagement is the primary culprit for catastrophic fires in recent years, contrary to evidence.

Standing amid ash and ruin on Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the historically devastating fires that have ravaged his state in recent years stand as a case study for the reality of the scientific warnings around climate change and blasted the "ideological BS" of those who would deny it.

"The debate is over around climate change. Just come to the state of California. Observe it with your own eyes," Newsom said while standing amid an ashen haze.