Trump says he called Newsom ‘the other day’ to criticize him. Newsom said he didn’t
President Donald Trump said he called Gov. Gavin Newsom “a day ago” and told him he was causing a lot of “potential death.”
But Newsom said there was no such call.
“There was no call. Not even a voicemail,” he tweeted after Trump spoke at an Oval Office news conference. “Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to.”
Later Tuesday, Trump was asked again about the call. This time, he said, “It wasn’t a day ago, a little longer than that.” It was a 16-minute call, Trump said, “and I told him to get his act together. We had a pleasant conversation.” That call happened June 7, as protests began.
Earllier Tuesday, Trump had said he “called him up,” and defended his decision to send National Guard troops and Marines to the Los Angeles area after protests over his immigration policies erupted. He said he told Newsom he has to do a better job.
“If we didn’t get involved right now, Los Angeles would be burning,” he said, repeating that idea several times during the 32-minute meeting.
Trump had said Monday it would be “great” if Newsom could be arrested for trying to overturn the president’s decision to deploy the National Guard.
Traditionally, such decisions are made with a governor’s consent, but Trump bypassed Newsom, who had said local and state law enforcement officials could handle the protests.
Trump said Tuesday he would keep the National Guard deployed “until there’s no danger.” He insisted that the protests were stoked by “paid insurrectionists.”
The president remained sharply critical of Newsom, calling him “a nice guy but grossly incompetent.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., went further.
“I’m not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested, but he ought to be tarred and feathered. I’ll say that,” he told reporters.
In the Senate, concern grew among Republicans over whether Los Angeles could provide adequate security for the 2026 World Cup soccer matches and the 2028 Summer Olympics.
“When you have completely incompetent leaders, not just at the local level but the state level who feel the administration is doing too much to protect its citizens…how are we not heading toward a complete and utter disaster?” asked Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio.
Reynold Hoover, chief executive officer of the 2028 Summer Olympics, said he was “very confident where we are now, to deliver the world’s greatest games and the largest games ever. I’m confident we will get there.”
This story was originally published June 10, 2025 at 11:05 AM with the headline "Trump says he called Newsom ‘the other day’ to criticize him. Newsom said he didn’t."
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