WASHINGTON (TNND) — Friction between President Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom escalated in Switzerland on Wednesday. During his speech, Trump criticized Newsom’s leadership while Newsom urged world leaders to have a “backbone” and resist Trump’s policies. During the speech, cameras captured the moment Trump called out Newsom, who could be seen smiling and what appeared to be chuckling at the comments.
Gavin is a good guy and if he needed it, I would do it in a heartbeat. We did help them a lot in Los Angeles,” Trump said. “I will say this, if I were a Democratic Governor or whatever I would call up Trump. I would say come in. Make us look good because we’re cutting crime down to nothing,” Trump added.
Newsom responded with a series of tweets. One showing a clip of that exchange, reading “rent free.” Another, “Donald Trump is crashing the American economy and wants the world to applaud him for it. It takes skill to be this out of touch.”
It was remarkably boring. It was remarkably. Insignificant,” Newsom told CNN after Trump’s speech. “Even by Trump’s standards, I was rather curious, and there were boorish parts of it, but those were not even that consequential,” Newsom added.
Leading up to the World Economic Forum, Trump hinted that California could be the next state investigated. On January 6th, he wrote on Truth Social, “The Fraud Investigation of California has begun.” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the probe this week, while also calling out Newsom for being in Davos with Alex Soros, son of Democratic mega-donor George Soros.
The Trump administration is coming to California. We are going to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse,” Bessent said. “Governor Newsom — who strikes me as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ben — may be the only Californian who knows less about economics than Kamala Harris,” he added.
The probe comes following multiple major fraud allegations. Including claims that $24 billion in homelessness funds are missing or lost. Plus, reports of “ghost students” stealing a portion of at least $10 million in federal financial aid from California community colleges.
They never intend to take classes and to graduate. They enroll for the sole purpose of defrauding the federal student aid program,” Under Secretary of Education, Nicholas Kent, told Fox News Digital.
California’s 2024 state auditor’s report did not state that $24 billion in homelessness funds were missing. But rather that spending was not properly tracked. Newsom’s office has maintained that the funds are accounted for, and the state is investigating any actual fraud.
National Headline
