Category Archives: Gavin Newsom

Gavin Newsom likens Israel to ‘an apartheid state’ and decries war on Iran

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California governor, promoting his memoir in LA, was asked if US should rethink military partnership with Israel

Gavin Newsom, the Democratic California governor, likened Israel to “an apartheid state” on Tuesday in comments sharply critical of the country’s joint war with the US against Iran.

Newsom, seen as a frontrunner for his party’s presidential nomination in 2028, made the comment during an appearance in Los Angeles to promote his book, Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery. He was asked if the US should rethink its military partnership with Israel.

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Gavin Newsom confirms he is considering 2028 presidential run

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Democratic California governor and high-profile Trump critic plans to make decision after 2026 midterms

Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, told CBS News Sunday Morning he plans to make a decision on whether to run for president in 2028 once the 2026 midterm elections are over.

“Yeah, I’d be lying otherwise,” Newsom said in response to a question on whether he would give serious thought to a White House bid after the 2026 elections. “I’d just be lying. And I’m not – I can’t do that.”

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Artillery shell exploded prematurely over California freeway during marines celebration

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Shrapnel fragments rained on vehicles parked on Interstate 5 including highway patrol and JD Vance’s detail

A live artillery shell exploded prematurely during a marines live-fire demonstration that launched over a southern California freeway in celebration of the military branch’s 250th anniversary, raining shrapnel down on a California Highway Patrol vehicle and a motorcycle that was part of JD Vance’s detail, according to a police report.

The New York Times reported that fragments that fell from the 155mm shell landed on vehicles parked on a ramp on Interstate 5 – a major artery through southern California – which governor Gavin Newsom had ordered closed after learning that military officials had no plans to close the freeway.

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Trump’s LA national guard deployment cost taxpayers $120m, Newsom says

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California governor condemns decision to deploy troops in response to anti-Ice protests as ‘waste, fraud and abuse’

Donald Trump’s deployment of the national guard in Los Angeles in response to protests in the city over immigration raids cost taxpayers nearly $120m, the California governor’s office said on Thursday.

The US president sent 2,000 national guard troops into the city in June amid clashes between federal immigration agents and protesters. This week a judge ruled that dispatching the military to accompany authorities on immigration enforcement operations violated federal law.

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California bill requires families to be alerted of immigration agents on school campuses

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Bill says state and community colleges must have ‘early warning systems in place’ amid Trump’s deportation push

California lawmakers have passed a bill requiring schools to alert families and teachers when immigration enforcement authorities are on campuses as the Trump administration continues its aggressive mass deportation campaign.

Under the bill, K-12 schools, state universities and community colleges must notify students, faculty and staff, “similar to early warning systems in place for other campus emergencies”, according to a statement from state senator Sasha Renée Pérez, who authored the legislation.

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First Thing: Newsom says California hopes to redraw maps in response to Texas plan

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Republican redestricting move aims to win House majority in midterms. Plus, plastic pollution talks fail in Geneva

Good morning.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has said lawmakers would proceed with a redistricting plan to counter the Republican-led map drawing effort in Texas aimed at securing a House majority after the midterm elections.

Will Newsom go ahead if Texas stands down? No. The California plan will only take place if Texas, or another Republican-led state, redraws its map in favor of the GOP.

What else do experts say about Bhattacharya’s “public trust” claims? That the issue is not whether the vaccines have public trust, but whether they are safe and effective, which they “clearly” are and this must be communicated.

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Gavin Newsom says California will move forward with map redrawing plan in response to Texas effort

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Governor revealed the election rigging response act to counter Trump’s push to gain five extra seats in Texas in midterm elections

Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, on Thursday said state Democratic lawmakers would move forward with a redistricting plan intended as a direct response to a Republican-led effort in Texas to redraw congressional maps to control of theHouse majority after the midterm elections.

Newsom, joined by congressional Democrats and legislative leaders, unveiled his plan, known as the election rigging response act, to override the state’s independent map-making commission and approve new congressional lines that would aim to “neuter and neutralize” Texas’s proposal.

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Trump sues California over transgender athletes in girls’ school sports

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Justice department says state policy violates Title IX, which offers legal protection against sex discrimination

The Trump administration has sued California over its policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ school sports, alleging that their participation violates federal anti-discrimination laws.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, claims that California’s policies violate Title IX, which affords legal protection against sex discrimination.

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California legislature acts to keep film and TV production at home

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Legislation will more than double current tax incentives under larger bill slated to be signed by Gavin Newsom

Hollywood’s home state of California will more than double annual tax incentives for film and television production to $750m under a measure passed by the Democratic-led legislature on Friday.

The increase from the current $330m was approved as part of a broader tax bill that is expected to be signed into law by California’s governor, Gavin Newsom.

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Gavin Newsom sues Fox News for defamation and demands $787m

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California governor accuses network of falsely claiming he lied about a phone call with Donald Trump

The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has sued Fox News for defamation and demanded $787m, almost exactly the same amount Fox paid in a previous defamation case over election misinformation.

In the new lawsuit, filed on Friday, Newsom accuses the Fox host Jesse Watters of falsely claiming Newsom lied about a phone call with Donald Trump, who recently ordered national guard troops into Los Angeles.

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Judge seems skeptical Trump can call in national guard and will rule ‘very soon’

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California governor Gavin Newsom filed suit challenging US president calling up troops to suppress protests against Ice

A federal judge expressed skepticism on Thursday with the Trump administration’s arguments that the president has the power to federalize national guard troops and deploy them to suppress protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles.

The US district judge, Charles Breyer, said he intends to rule on California’s request for an injunction halting the deployment “very soon”, and that he was hopeful his ruling would come by the end of the day. He said he would also decide on whether the justice department could stay the order pending appeal.

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LA protests: LAPD says it has made ‘mass arrests’ after mayor issued curfew for downtown – live

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Mayor Karen Bass issues curfew for one square mile area in downtown, beginning at 8pm local time on Tuesday until 6am local time on Wednesday

Governor Greg Abbott has pledged to deploy National Guard troops across his state of Texas, becoming the first governor to do so as protests against Trump’s immigration raids spread throughout the United States.

Abbott said on X that the Texas National Guard will “use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order”.

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LA police announce ‘mass arrests’ as Newsom intensifies criticism of Trump | First Thing

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Protesters defy overnight curfew as California governor issues searing rebuke of administration. Plus, who is behind the hedonistic party palaces of New York’s Fire Island?

Good morning.

Los Angeles police have announced they are making “mass arrests” in the city’s downtown area, as people gathered in defiance of an overnight curfew imposed after days of protests against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and military deployment.

What has Newsom said? Trump’s decision to deploy the national guard in LA was “a brazen abuse of power”, that has “inflamed a combustible situation”, Newsom said in a searing rebuke of the administration.

What about Trump? In an address to troops at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina yesterday, Trump spread conspiracy theories, maligned California’s Democratic leaders and misleadingly portrayed protesters as part of a “foreign invasion”.

Were they really armed by Israel? Yes. Israeli defence officials acknowledged last week that they had been arming the group, with the aim of undermining Hamas. Aid workers said the group had a long history of looting from UN trucks.

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Newsom is warned of ‘criminal tax evasion’ if he withholds federal taxes

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California governor made threat amid reports Trump is weighing huge federal funding cuts targeting state

The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has warned California governor Gavin Newsom that he would be guilty of “criminal tax evasion” if he withholds his state’s tax payments to the federal government amid threats of a funding cut by Donald Trump.

Newsom had threatened to cut tax payments to the federal government two days ago after reports that Trump was preparing huge federal funding cuts targeting Democrat-dominated California, including its state university system.

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California governor seeks to exclude undocumented from Medicaid program

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Measure targeting immigrants is to help close added $12bn deficit that Newsom blamed on ‘Trump slump’

The California governor, Gavin Newsom, wants his state to stop enrolling more low-income immigrants without legal status in a state-funded healthcare program starting in 2026 and begin charging a monthly premium the following year to those already enrolled.

It is one of several measures proposed by Newsom on Wednesday to help close an additional $12bn deficit, a budget shortcoming the Democratic governor squarely placed on the shoulders of the “Trump slump”.

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Newsom calls on California cities to ban homeless encampments ‘without delay’

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Governor announces new ordinance to address ‘persistent’ camps as he intensifies crackdown on worsening crisis

Gavin Newsom has called on California cities and counties to clear and effectively ban encampments “without delay” as the governor intensifies a crackdown on homelessness in the state.

Newsom on Monday announced a new model ordinance to address “persistent” camps, in hopes of reducing the most visible signs of a worsening crisis, as well as $3.3bn in voter-approved funding to increase housing and drug treatment programs.

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California’s economy surpasses Japan’s as it becomes fourth largest in world

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State’s nominal GDP reaches $4.1tn, edging out Japan’s $4.02tn, ranking it behind the US, China and Germany

California’s economy has surpassed Japan’s, making the Golden state the fourth largest economy in the world, Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday.

The state’s nominal GDP reached $4.1tn, according to data from the International Monetary Fund and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, edging out Japan’s $4.02tn nominal GDP. California now ranks behind the US at $29.18tn, China at $18.74tn and Germany at $4.65tn.

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Newsom threatens to pull funds unless California cities crack down on homelessness

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‘We’re not going to fund failure,’ says governor, who warned local authorities they could lose out on millions of dollars

California’s governor warned cities and counties that they could lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding if they do not make progress in clearing out encampments and tackling homelessness.

Gavin Newsom’s comments on Monday, while announcing $920m in funding to address the crisis, come as he escalates efforts to push local governments to take greater action. Last summer, Newsom told counties he could withhold state support if they failed to do more homeless encampment sweeps.

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California allocates $50m to fight Trump administration and deportation efforts

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Governor signs laws assigning half for state’s justice department and half for legal groups defending immigrants

Gavin Newsom, the California governor, signed laws on Friday setting aside $50m to help the state protect its policies from challenges by the Trump administration and defend immigrants amid the president’s mass-deportation plans.

One of the laws allocates $25m for the state’s department of justice to fight legal battles against the federal government, and another sets aside $25m in part for legal groups to defend immigrants facing possible deportation. During his first presidency, Trump sparred with California over climate laws, water policy, immigrant rights and more, and the state filed or joined more than 100 legal actions against the administration. The same fights are re-emerging in the early days of Trump’s second term.

The headline on this article was amended on 8 February 2025 to clarify that California now has $50m both for legal battles against the federal government and for legal groups defending immigrants facing possible deportation, not solely for the latter.

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California officials deny Trump’s claim that US military ‘turned on the water’ in state

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State water officials say military ‘did not enter California’ and ‘federal government restarted federal water pumps’

California water officials said this week there’s no truth to Donald Trump’s assertion that the US military has entered California and “turned on the water”.

Trump’s comments, made on Monday on his social media platform Truth Social, are the latest in a series of remarks he’s made and actions he’s taken related to the state’s water policy following devastating wildfires that ripped through the Los Angeles area this month. He’s often offering an incomplete or incorrect assessment of the state’s water policies or tying together unrelated issues.

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