Donald Trump just rubber-stamped the arrest of California Governor Gavin Newsom amid the ongoing anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.
While Trump arrived back at the White House from Camp David Monday, a reporter asked him what ICE acting Director Tom Homan should do about Newsom, who had dared the border czar to come after him next.
Apparently, Trump thought it would be a brilliant public relations move.
“I would do it if I were Tom,” Trump replied. “I think it’s great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing. He’s done a terrible job.”
"I would do it if I were Tom. I think it's great" -- Trump endorses the arrest of Gov. Gavin Newsom pic.twitter.com/M9b4s1BkOJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 9, 2025
“Look, I like Gavin Newsom, he’s a nice guy, but he’s grossly incompetent, everybody knows,” Trump continued.
Newsom swiftly responded to Trump’s green light. “The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America,” Newsom wrote in a post on X. “I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation—this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
Newsom took the president to task Sunday, calling him a “stone-cold liar” for not even mentioning Los Angeles in a phone call the two had, and then bypassing his authority to deploy the National Guard in Los Angeles.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday that California would sue the Trump administration for calling in the National Guard, saying that the state’s sovereignty had been “trampled” by the president. In a post on X, Newsom said that Trump’s decision to call in the National Guard was a deliberate move to make things worse.
“This is a manufactured crisis,” Newsom wrote. “[Trump] is creating fear and terror to take over a state militia and violate the U.S. constitution.”
Newsom called for states to reject Trump’s overreach. “This is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism that threatens the foundation of our republic,” he wrote. “We cannot let it stand.”
Homan has pushed back on the claim that he threatened to detain Newsom specifically, though he recalled responding to a question about detaining Newsom by saying that no one was above the law.
Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard is the first time it has been federalized since 1992, when Los Angeles erupted into riots after the police arrest and beating of Rodney King.*
* This piece has been updated to correct the nature of the 1992 riots.