Newsom Slams Trump as ‘Stone-Cold Liar’ Over Phone Call
The California governor said he and the president spoke on Friday for nearly 20 minutes.
California Governor Gavin Newsom sharply criticized Donald Trump, calling him a “complete liar” in an interview with MSNBC on Sunday. He insisted that the president’s harsh remarks did not match the tone he used in his phone call on Friday.
Trump attacked the Democratic candidate on Truth Social after the National Guard deployed to Los Angeles—against the governor’s wishes—to intervene in protests in the city. The troops arrived on Sunday, and clashes between protesters and law enforcement escalated throughout the day.
Newsom said he and Trump spoke late Friday night—around 1:30 a.m. Saturday in Washington—but that Trump never mobilized the National Guard. The protests erupted Friday after a series of federal raids on businesses in Los Angeles.
“We talked for about 20 minutes, and the topic barely came up,” Newsom said on MSNBC. “I tried to talk about Los Angeles, and he wanted to bring up all these other topics. We had a really good conversation.” He added, “He never mentioned the National Guard. He’s a total liar. He said he did it. Total liar. Total liar. He never did it.”
He said, “The president is impossible to work with. Let’s just work with him. I will never work with Donald Trump.”
He then added, “You create the conditions you claim to solve.”
The governor said he will sue the Trump administration over the National Guard deployment, and the lawsuit will be filed tomorrow.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Previously, Newsom criticized Trump’s deployment order as illegal and formally called for its rescission. He called the move “deliberately seditious.”
It has been nearly sixty years since a president deployed the National Guard without a governor’s request or approval.
Newsom tweeted earlier Sunday: “We never had a problem before Trump’s intervention. This is a serious violation of state sovereignty, escalating tensions while diverting resources from those truly needed.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass echoed this sentiment, saying the situation was under control before the federal intervention triggered a “chaotic escalation.”
“Los Angeles residents, do not participate in the violence and mayhem. Do not give the administration what it wants,” she wrote Sunday evening.
Ignoring pleas from local leaders to calm the situation, Trump escalated his rhetoric throughout Sunday, even calling the protesters “rebels” on Truth Social. He said he had ordered administration officials to “liberate Los Angeles from an immigrant invasion.”
The president, who in January pardoned hundreds of rioters who participated in the January 6, 2021, uprising, also attacked Newsom and Bass, calling on them to “apologize to the people of Los Angeles for the terrible job they did.”
