Gavin Newsom Calls Donald Trump Stone Cold Liar Over National Guard Federalization in California

[00:00] joined now by Governor Nuome. We're in

[00:01] the Emergency Operations Center as these

[00:03] protests uh continue to rage as Donald

[00:06] Trump has federalized the National

[00:08] Guard. First and foremost, did the

[00:10] National Guard need to come into

[00:12] California? Of course not. He flamed the

[00:13] fires. This is exactly what he wanted.

[00:16] This is what he intended uh by illegally

[00:19] acting to federalize the National Guard.

[00:22] We're going to be initiating a lawsuit

[00:24] uh first thing tomorrow morning. uh and

[00:26] it did exactly what we told his team it

[00:30] would do. It would inflame the anxiety,

[00:33] would inflame the conditions and the

[00:35] most important thing he can do if he

[00:36] wants this thing behind us is to rescend

[00:41] his order uh and to get back into some

[00:44] semblance uh of orderly life here that

[00:46] he created. Well, you had mentioned if

[00:48] he wants to to uh reduce tensions that

[00:51] he will resend this order. But isn't

[00:53] isn't that the issue at hand here that

[00:55] he doesn't want No, he wants I mean he's

[00:57] literally created these conditions. He

[00:58] he wants to exacerbate the problems. He

[01:01] completely colored many overstated

[01:03] everything. Uh he knowingly went in in a

[01:06] reckless way. Did something that's

[01:08] almost without precedented in our

[01:10] lifetime unconstitutional,

[01:13] illegal, immoral. because he knew full

[01:15] well what would persist uh on the

[01:19] ground. Uh his team knows that as well.

[01:22] Uh and that's exactly what this is all

[01:24] about. This is Trump's mess. He created

[01:26] it. He knew full well what would happen

[01:30] if he did this. He offered no support,

[01:34] no counsel, no advice, no other

[01:36] consideration. He just acted in an

[01:39] immature manner in order to create the

[01:42] kind of problems that people are now

[01:44] witnessing on the streets. To what

[01:45] extent do you think it was a coincidence

[01:47] that in the aftermath of a week that was

[01:49] just rife with bad news for Trump as it

[01:52] relates to his relationship with Elon,

[01:53] his falling out with Elon, uh the budget

[01:56] bill obviously being on on thin ice that

[01:59] suddenly he finds uh you know a blue

[02:02] state that is just an easy punching bag

[02:04] for him. in the state of California and

[02:06] now we have federal troops 100% it's all

[02:08] about news cycles 24/7 it's about weekly

[02:11] news whatever he can to distract to

[02:13] continue I mean disastrous economic

[02:15] policies calamitous economic policies

[02:18] potentially I mean even his his his

[02:20] biggest sick in the in the country Elon

[02:23] Musk said likelihood of a recession in

[02:26] the second half of the year massive debt

[02:29] and

[02:30] deficits it the absurdity of his claim

[02:33] that the economy

[02:34] is doing well. He's wrecking the

[02:36] economy. He's destroyed allies uh around

[02:40] the world, these great 90 deals in 90

[02:43] days. Nothing nothing about this

[02:46] president and this presidency is

[02:48] working. The Ukraine war, it's getting

[02:50] worse, not better. I mean, it's just

[02:52] it's the theater of the absurd. And so,

[02:55] of course, he comes in. Uh but this is

[02:58] different because this puts American

[02:59] lives at risk. puts the lives of

[03:02] American citizens at risk and puts the

[03:04] lives of law enforcement at risk and

[03:08] he's knowingly flaming these fires. He's

[03:11] lit the match and he knows exactly what

[03:14] he's doing. He's created this spectacle

[03:16] and he's got to clean it up and if he

[03:18] can't clean it up, we'll clean it up.

[03:20] That's why we're down here at the EOC.

[03:22] We have 175 CHP officers out there that

[03:26] know exactly what they're doing that are

[03:28] organized and mission tasked to support

[03:31] in a mutual aid local law enforcement.

[03:33] You've got these young kids that don't

[03:37] know necessarily what they're doing

[03:38] because they haven't been appropriately

[03:40] mission tasked uh as it relates to the

[03:43] federalization uh of their uh their

[03:46] deployment. uh there's only a few

[03:48] hundred of them because they can't even

[03:49] figure out what to do with the other

[03:51] 1,700 because this is so disorganized.

[03:54] Right? So, it's a serious serious

[03:56] moment. It is a constitutional moment in

[03:58] this country. We have an immoral

[04:00] president acting illegally and

[04:04] unconstitutionally. And I hope people

[04:06] wake up to what the hell is going on

[04:08] right now. And so logistically speaking,

[04:10] when you've got the California National

[04:12] Guard and when you've got the Federal

[04:14] National Guard both coming in to Los

[04:16] Angeles, who takes priority? What

[04:18] happens? What happens to these folks who

[04:20] are actually on the ground? Well, we've

[04:21] had a remarkable relationship with our

[04:23] National Guard. Over 3,000 or so went

[04:26] through a rotation to protect folks here

[04:28] post fire. And they were wellreceived uh

[04:31] and embraced. They were mission tasked.

[04:34] They went through an appropriate process

[04:36] working with local law enforcement, the

[04:38] cities and the counties and the

[04:39] community leaders, and they were engaged

[04:42] and effective. Uh, as it relates to the

[04:45] deployment right now, there's no state

[04:47] national guard that have been requested

[04:49] by local law enforcement because they

[04:50] had adequate resources. And Donald Trump

[04:53] knew that. His chief of staff knew that.

[04:55] They didn't care about that. And so they

[04:57] wanted to create conditions that would

[05:01] get worse because of their uh ignorance

[05:06] and uh recklessness uh in order to

[05:09] incite the kind of reaction that we're

[05:11] seeing on the streets so that they can

[05:13] further incite by now apparently um

[05:18] talking about bringing in the Marines

[05:20] into a United States city in 2025. And

[05:24] by the way, he attempted, we found out

[05:26] from his previous uh secretary of

[05:27] defense, Mark Esper, that he had

[05:29] attempted to get the military deployed

[05:31] in an American city previously. And Mark

[05:33] Esper uh wouldn't go along with this

[05:35] plan. And so now, do you have any

[05:36] confidence that Pete Hegsath will be as

[05:38] principled as Mark Esper? It's a joke.

[05:41] He's a joke. Everybody knows it. So in

[05:44] over his head, what an

[05:46] embarrassment. That's just guy's

[05:48] weakness masquerading his strength. I

[05:50] don't even know. He masquerades his

[05:51] strength.

[05:52] I mean it's serious moment. I mean this

[05:55] human guy these guys it's just it it's

[05:57] the band of misfits. Yeah. It's I mean

[06:00] it really is. This is serious. The

[06:01] people's lives are at stake. Reputation

[06:03] of this country is at stake. Great

[06:05] American cities and states. It's not

[06:07] just this is not this is a preview for

[06:09] things to come. This isn't about LA per

[06:11] se. It's about us today. It's about you.

[06:13] Everyone watching tomorrow. I promise

[06:15] you. I mean this this guy's unhinged.

[06:18] Donald Trump is unhinged right now. And

[06:22] uh this is just another proof point of

[06:23] that. In your last conversation with

[06:25] Donald Trump, which I believe was in the

[06:27] last 24 hours, how did that conversation

[06:29] go? What did you say to him? What did he

[06:30] say to you? He never brought up the

[06:32] National Guard. Stone cold liar. Said he

[06:35] did. Stone cold liar. Never did. Didn't

[06:39] even really want to talk about LA. I

[06:42] couldn't I out of respect to the

[06:44] presidency, that 20-minute conversation,

[06:46] I won't even get into things he actually

[06:48] wanted to talk about. But it wasn't

[06:50] about any of these

[06:51] things. Now he's making it all up. This

[06:55] is part past practice is what he does.

[06:57] So it's uh it's the SE it's a it's a

[07:01] remarkable remarkable thing to

[07:04] experience in real time and in real time

[07:06] uh people's lives um are at risk because

[07:09] of his recklessness. The last time a

[07:11] president federalized the National Guard

[07:13] in opposition to a state's governor was

[07:15] in 1963 when JFK did it in opposition to

[07:18] George Wallace in an attempt to

[07:19] integrate the University of Alabama. So

[07:22] that was a moment where the president

[07:23] stepped up to protect civil rights and

[07:26] expand civil rights. Now Donald Trump is

[07:27] doing the exact opposite. And so you're

[07:29] in a situation where where you are in

[07:32] direct conflict to to to history here

[07:35] because Donald Trump um is now doing it

[07:36] to try and contract rights uh among

[07:39] citizens in the state. And so what's

[07:40] your reaction to the fact that that this

[07:42] is the polar opposite of something that

[07:43] JFK did that went down in the history

[07:45] books as a moment where he used his

[07:47] power for good to expand civil rights

[07:49] and now Donald Trump is doing it in

[07:50] opposition to you to contract them.

[07:53] Yeah. I mean it's look as I said it's

[07:55] unconstitutional. It's illegal. It's

[07:57] immoral. Um we've deployed the National

[08:00] Guard on multiple occasions in the past.

[08:02] We have National Guard down at the

[08:04] border mission tasked appropriately to

[08:06] address the issue of fentanyl

[08:07] interdiction, drug interdiction, working

[08:09] in partnership with border patrol have

[08:10] been for years and years and years.

[08:12] Thousands were deployed here after the

[08:15] fires and during the midst of the fires

[08:17] to help support uh public safety. Uh we

[08:20] used thousands of our national guard to

[08:23] address the issue of public safety

[08:24] during the George Floyd uh riots. Uh the

[08:27] issue of the National Guard being

[08:29] deployed appropriately is under the

[08:31] jurisdiction of governors, not the

[08:34] president of the United States. And to

[08:36] your point that he's using this to

[08:39] create division. He's using this to

[08:41] divide this nation. Uh he's using this

[08:44] in a way knowingly that puts people's

[08:46] lives at risk so he can escalate the

[08:49] rhetoric, escalate his effort to

[08:53] continue uh to degragate the sort of

[08:57] constitutional protections, the

[08:59] fundamental protections that we have

[09:02] frankly taken advantage granted of for

[09:04] decades and decades is extraordinary and

[09:07] a deep point of contrast certainly to a

[09:09] real President John F. Kennedy. This all

[09:12] obviously comes under the backdrop of

[09:14] these ICE raids happening um you know in

[09:16] a few major cities across the country,

[09:18] but now they're focused on on Los

[09:20] Angeles. And so there are a lot of

[09:21] undocumented immigrants who've been in

[09:23] our community for years and years,

[09:26] decades, and so obviously seeing

[09:28] everything play out as it is right now.

[09:30] What's your message to that community

[09:32] who sees what's happening and you know

[09:34] who have set up their entire lives here

[09:36] who've built their families here uh who

[09:38] are who are uh member like members in

[09:40] good standing of their communities here

[09:42] paying their taxes 27% of this state is

[09:44] foreign born you've got mixed status

[09:46] families with good people been working

[09:48] decade plus hard workers that are not

[09:50] criminals you want to go after criminals

[09:52] that's fine I've coordinated and

[09:53] collaborate with the federal government

[09:55] as it relates to criminals uh we've

[09:57] worked together at the part at CDCR

[09:59] which is our state uh uh uh prison

[10:02] system and we've collaborated for the

[10:03] last seven years, six plus years I've

[10:06] collaborated as it relates to

[10:08] deportation of of violent criminals.

[10:11] That's not what this is about. Uh and so

[10:14] it sends a chill. I mean these poor

[10:16] kids, elementary schools, you know,

[10:20] fourth grade just the other day, young

[10:22] child. The hell does that young child is

[10:25] a person's dangerous? Only person

[10:27] dangerous right now is an unhinged

[10:29] president of the United States that's

[10:31] inciting violence, who's inciting the

[10:34] conditions that he claims he's going to

[10:36] come in and fix. And so I hope he fixes

[10:39] this immediately by rescending that

[10:41] illegal order immediately and will clean

[10:45] up his mess. Obviously, as these

[10:47] protests continue to to grow larger and

[10:50] larger, what's your message to

[10:51] protesters who take who've taken the

[10:52] streets out? Well, just do it do it

[10:54] peacefully. Period. full stop. I can't

[10:57] stand those idiots that are breaking

[10:59] cars or smashing windows. The hell is

[11:02] that any more than I can't stand, you

[11:05] know, the direction directive of the

[11:07] president? Yeah. Just it's time to be

[11:09] peaceful. It's time to show up. I think

[11:11] that that's extraordinary. It's

[11:12] incredibly important to show up. Just do

[11:15] it peacefully and call out those that

[11:17] are not being peaceful, you know. And

[11:20] with respect, I know these National

[11:21] Guard men and women. I've been working

[11:23] with them. These are good kids. They're

[11:25] good kids. They're members of your

[11:28] community. Yeah. I mean, have their back

[11:30] as well. They're being mission tasked uh

[11:33] by the president, but that doesn't make

[11:34] it right to attack them either. Donald

[11:37] Trump sent down this this illegal

[11:39] unconstitutional um directive to to

[11:42] national to federalize the National

[11:43] Guard. When does this come to a head? Is

[11:45] this going to Are you hoping for an

[11:47] injunction in the courts? We're going to

[11:48] immediately seek that first thing

[11:50] tomorrow morning.

[11:51] Absolutely. Look, that's all we got

[11:53] left. Uh there's one maybe two branches

[11:58] of government left. It sure as hell

[11:59] ain't the legislature, right? I mean,

[12:01] Speaker Johnson, what a joke. He is

[12:03] completely missing in action. You know,

[12:06] he's got to clean up his own mess. He's

[12:08] got one of the most dangerous districts

[12:09] in America. Six times, I think, the

[12:12] murder rate of Nancy Pelosy's district.

[12:14] Why the hell ain't talking about that on

[12:16] Fox News? Where's Donald Trump talking

[12:18] about the carnage in Speaker Johnson's

[12:20] district?

[12:22] But the real carnage is complete

[12:23] neglect. I mean, this is a guy who's

[12:26] complicit in increasing the national

[12:27] debt. Talk about our kids and grandkids.

[12:29] Another $2.5 trillion dollars. So, we're

[12:33] holding hope, had hope. Founding

[12:35] fathers, three co-equal branches of

[12:37] government, popular sovereignty, rule of

[12:39] law, and the courts need to intervene.

[12:42] And and we've won more than we've lost.

[12:44] And California sued more than any other

[12:46] state in the country. Uh, and here we

[12:48] go. One more. Do you have a concern that

[12:50] he will ramp up his threats from just uh

[12:52] national federalizing the National Guard

[12:54] to invoking the insurrection act if if

[12:56] this isn't dealt with? Of course. I mean

[12:58] this is this is this is I mean what more

[13:01] evidence do we need of the authoritarian

[13:02] tendencies? It's not even tendencies now

[13:04] actions of this president. This is

[13:06] complete

[13:07] lawlessness threatening impeachment of

[13:09] judges that disagree with him going

[13:11] after knowledge broadly the cultural

[13:14] purge institutions of higher learning.

[13:17] It's the conveyor belt for talent. It's

[13:18] the reason this country is so is is as

[13:21] successful as it is. He's coming after

[13:23] books and knowledge. He's rewriting

[13:25] history, censoring historical facts. I

[13:27] mean, Hex is so weak. He can't even

[13:30] allow the kids at West Point to read

[13:32] books from, you know, I know Tony

[13:35] Morrison. Yeah. He's b I mean, it's a

[13:37] serious serious moment in America. and

[13:40] uh and we've got to assert ourselves and

[13:43] uh we are asserting ourselves and um and

[13:45] we're just not going to stand for this.

[13:47] You mentioned before that you'd spoken

[13:48] with Donald Trump on the phone. What he

[13:50] said you guys spoke about is obviously

[13:52] different from what you actually spoke

[13:53] about. And so he has every intention of

[13:56] stone cold liar. He has every intention

[13:58] of not acting in good faith as it

[14:00] relates to speaking with you in private

[14:02] versus speaking with you in public. And

[14:03] so if he's going to litigate this thing

[14:05] in the press, what is your message to

[14:07] him in light of what he's doing right

[14:08] now? Tell the truth. Own up to the

[14:11] truth. But what the hell is that advice

[14:14] to Donald Trump to talk honestly and

[14:17] truthfully?

[14:19] He's a stone cold liar. I respect the

[14:23] presidency. I've tried to have an open

[14:25] hand with him, tried to work with him.

[14:27] You can't work with Donald Trump. You

[14:29] can only work for him and I will not. I

[14:31] refuse to work for Donald Trump. We'll

[14:33] leave it there. Governor Newsome,

[14:34] appreciate your time. Thanks, man.

[14:37] [Music]