Newsom blasts Trump's arrest threat as ‘unmistakable step toward authoritarianism'
President Donald Trump on Monday endorsed the idea of arresting California Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state's resistance to federal immigration enforcement efforts in Los Angeles, intensifying a clash that has already drawn legal challenges and fierce rebukes from Democratic leaders.
'I would do it if I were Tom,' Trump said, referring to Tom Homan, his border czar, who over the weekend suggested that state and local officials, including Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, could face arrest if they interfered with immigration raids.
'I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,' Trump added.
Trump's remarks signal a sharp escalation in the administration's crackdown on sanctuary jurisdictions and a willingness to target political opponents in unprecedented ways.
Newsom responded swiftly, calling Trump's words a chilling attack on American democratic norms.
'The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor,' Newsom wrote on X.
'This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. 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.'
Tensions escalated sharply after Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles following days of civil unrest related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. The deployment marked the first time a president has federalized a state's National Guard without the governor's consent since 1965.
Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced plans to sue Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, alleging the deployment was unlawful. 'Federalizing the California National Guard is an abuse of the President's authority under the law,' Bonta said at a press conference. 'There is no invasion. There is no rebellion.'
Meanwhile, David Huerta, president of SEIU California, was charged with felony conspiracy to impede an officer after his arrest during the L.A. protests.
Despite the furor, legal experts note that Homan lacks the authority to arrest elected officials, and his role remains advisory. Still, Trump's rhetoric has raised alarms among critics who view his comments as part of a broader pattern of undermining democratic institutions.
'This is a preview of things to come,' Newsom warned in an interview with Brian Taylor Cohen that he shared on social media.
'This isn't about L.A., per se,' the Democratic governor added. 'It's about us today, it's about you, everyone watching tomorrow. This guy is unhinged. Trump is unhinged right now, and this is just another proof point of that.'
At a news conference held by lawmakers in Sacramento to discuss the protests in Los Angeles, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, said Trump's threat to arrest Newsom is a 'direct assault on democracy and an insult to every Californian.'
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37 minutes ago
- CNN
Newsom calls out Trump for ‘theatrics' in Los Angeles
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Hamilton Spectator
38 minutes ago
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Los Angeles imposes downtown curfew as protests against Trump's immigration crackdown continue
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Demonstrations have spread to other cities nationwide, including Dallas and Austin, Texas, Chicago and New York, where a thousand people rallied and multiple arrests were made. In Texas, where police in Austin used chemical irritants to disperse several hundred demonstrators Monday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's office said Texas National Guard troops were 'on standby' in areas where demonstrations are planned, Abbott spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris said Tuesday evening. Guard members were deployed to San Antonio, according to assistant police chief Jesse Salame. He said he did not know how many were sent or details on the deployment. LA mayor puts curfew in place Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a local emergency on the fifth day of protests and said the curfew will run from 8 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday. She said it was expected to last for several days. 'We reached a tipping point' after 23 businesses were looted, Bass said during a news conference Tuesday. 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Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Newsom Warns ‘Other States Are Next' in Speech Against Trump
California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivers an address on June 10, 2025. Credit - Office of the California Governor via AP 'What's happening right now is very different than anything we've seen before,' Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, said in a speech Tuesday night that was seemingly addressed as much to his own state's residents as to the nation. 'This isn't just about protests here in Los Angeles. When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation,' Newsom said amid days of unrest in southern California after the President mobilized troops to quell violence and vandalism that had broken out during demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids—an escalation Newsom called a 'brazen abuse of power' that 'inflamed a combustible situation.' 'This is about all of us. This is about you,' Newsom said. 'California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. 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