California Gov. Gavin Newsom isn’t opposed to taking jabs at Donald Trump. But now the president’s underlings are getting caught in the crossfire.
On Aug. 14, Newsom mocked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt after she defended Trump’s decision to freeze $584 million in federal funding for the University of California, Los Angeles.
(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
This came after the administration accused the university of anti-Semitism for allowing pro-Palestinian students to protest against Israel’s decimation of Gaza. The federal government has since asked for $1 billion from the university to settle the allegations. As a result of her support, Newsom has called Leavitt out for supporting her boss’s bidding by belittling her with a nickname.
His press office posted a clip on X of Leavitt responding to Newsom’s threat to take legal action against the administration.
“Bring it on, Gavin,” she said during the Aug. 12 press conference. “This administration is well within its legal right to do this, and we want to ensure that our colleges and our universities are respecting the First Amendment rights and the religious liberties of students on their campuses and UCLA has failed to do that, and I have a whole list of examples that I will forward to Gavin Newsom’s press office, if he hasn’t seen them himself.”
Later that day UCLA scored a victory when U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin ordered Trump to restore part of their federal grant funding. They were specifically asked to restore the National Science Foundation grants after the foundation initially cut funding from the school under allegations that included antisemitism and racism.
After Leavitt’s response to him, Newsom’s press office account challenged her in the post for not sending over the “list of examples.” In the caption he wrote, “24 hours later and KaroLYING Leavitt still hasn’t sent the ‘evidence’ she promised to send. These people are LIARS!”
Fans reacted to Newsom’s mocking on Facebook.
One person said, “It sure fits!”
Another wrote, “‘I’m definitely stealing that.”
Under his X post one person responded, “I no longer listen to Leavitt or Trump. All they do is lie.”
Another person who thought the name fit her said, “This is what she does best. How this administration just keep lying with everything they say would minimal truths thrown in for distractions.”
But he didn’t stop there. Four hours later, he called both Leavitt and Trump out days after giving them a deadline to stop “cheating” with the administration’s move to push Republican-controlled state legislatures to redraw congressional maps in the middle of the decade.
The Texas Legislature, prodded by Trump himself, unveiled new congressional district maps last month that could help the Republicans gain five U.S. House seats in the Lone Star State in the midterm elections next fall. The new map — which has not been approved because state House Democrats have fled Texas, denying the state House a quorum to take a vote — could ensure GOP keeps control of the U.S. House of Representatives in tight midterm elections next fall. Newsom warned Trump to stop the Republicans’ efforts by giving them a deadline for Aug. 14 to do so or he would have California push to redraw maps to add more Democratic seats. The move could cut five GOP seats in California if approved.
On Aug. 13 he wrote, “DONNIE J. AND KaroLYIN’ LEAVITT WILL HAVE THEIR (LITTLE) HANDS “FULL” TODAY. WHOOPS. I, GAVIN CHRISTOPHER NEWSOM, AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR (MANY SAY), WILL HOST THE GREATEST PRESS CONFERENCE OF ALL TIME. AFTER THAT — “THE MAPS” WILL SOON BE RELEASED. VERY MUCH ANTICIPATED. HISTORY MADE. THE GOP’S RIGGED GAME IS OVER!!!! THE PEOPLE RETAKE CONGRESS. YOU’RE WELCOME, AMERICA! LIBERATION DAY!!! THAT IS WHAT MANY ARE CALLING IT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. — GCN
He followed up with another post, still using the moniker he came up for Leavitt.
“WOW! TOMORROW HISTORY WILL BE MADE. KaroLYIN LEAVITT WILL HAVE NO ANSWERS FOR THE SUPPOSED “FAKE MEDIA” ABOUT CALIFORNIA’S BEAUTIFUL MAPS. PEOPLE ARE SAYING THEY ARE THE GREATEST MAPS EVER CREATED — EVEN BETTER THAN CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS’. DONALD “THE FAILURE” TRUMP BE WARNED, TOMORROW MAY BE THE WORST DAY OF YOUR LIFE. ALL BECAUSE YOU “MISSED THE DEADLINE.” LIBERATION DAY FOR AMERICA!!! — GCN.”
On Aug. 14, Newsom followed up on his threat when he called for a special election to redraw California’s congressional map. It is unclear how the White House intends to respond.
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