Flashback: LA Mayor Karen Bass was once considered top VP choice by Biden, praised by Obama as 'outstanding'

Prior to drawing intense public scrutiny for her response to handling the wildfires ravaging Los Angeles, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass was held in the highest esteem by the Democratic Party's most prominent figures.

President Biden once considered Bass to be a top contender for his vice presidential running mate in 2020, while former President Barack Obama previously predicted that she would be an "outstanding mayor" of the city.

This high praise of Bass by two of the party's top men is being called into question as Bass has been taking heat for how she has handled the wildfires destroying major portions of her city. 

As flames have destroyed thousands of homes, killed at least 11 people, and forced nearly 200,000 people from their homes, the mayor has been hammered for enacting budget cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department. 

The LAFD budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year of $837 million was also dwarfed by the city's homeless budget of $1.3 billion.

The mayor raced back home Wednesday, facing a barrage of media questions as to where she had been.

"Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent while their homes were burning? And do you regret cutting the Fire Department budget by millions of dollars, Madame Mayor?" Sky News reporter David Blevins asked as Bass waited to deplane Wednesday following her trip to the African nation.

"If you can't cover the basics, get out of our city. You are useless to us. You are a liability and you have destroyed people's lives because you didn't do your job," she said. "You didn't do what you were hired for. You didn't do what we pay you for," she added. 

The White House did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

Fox News Digital's Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Kira Mautone contributed to this report.