California Governor Gavin Newsom raised concerns about President Donald Trump’s mental acuity on Thursday, saying the president fabricated details of a conversation about federalizing the state’s National Guard in Los Angeles.
Newsom accused the president of either deliberately lying or being confused about a conversation the two officials had after Trump told the New York Post he called Newsom to warn him that he planned to utilize the California National Guard to control protests.
The governor sharply accused Trump of being a “stone-cold liar” on The Daily podcast, claiming Trump never brought up the National Guard during their conversation.
“[He] starts making up all these things he claimed he told me about, which honestly starts to disturb me on a different level, that maybe he actually believed he said those things and he’s not all there. I mean it,” Newsom said.
“He, literally, a few days later… claimed he had another conversation with me,” Newsom said of the president who turns 79 years old on Saturday.
Concern about the mental acuity of the president has been top-of-mind for the media and some voters since it became a major issue for former president Joe Biden. Trump often pointed to Biden’s jumbled speech and rigid stance as signs of physical or mental unfitness.
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, told Axios that Newsom's attacks on Trump are "rich, coming from Gavin Newsom, who in this past election tried to gaslight and lied to the American public about Joe Biden's decline."
"Gavin Newsom will never be president, even as he tries to peddle these lies," Cheung said.
Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas, who served as Physician to the President under Trump’s first term, told Axios that Trump "is the healthiest president this nation has ever seen."
“Frankly, given President Trump’s unparalleled work ethic and this administration’s commitment to transparency, it's abundantly clear that Governor Newsom, the 'sanctuary state' governor, is indulging in nothing more than petty politics. He, just like most Democrats, needs to look himself in the mirror and answer this: Where was the concern when the cognitive disaster, Joe Biden, was president,” Jackson said.
Over the last week, Newsom has been on a press campaign to refute Trump’s use of the military to thwart anti-immigration raid protests in Los Angeles.
The governor says it’s an unnecessary use of the California National Guard and Marines for incidents of civil unrest in a small area in downtown Los Angeles.
Trump controversially invoked a rarely-used presidential power to federalize the state’s National Guard, against the wishes of Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
Newsom has filed a lawsuit against Trump, claiming the president’s actions were illegal.
Trump, who has defended his decision to federalize the California National Guard, has pushed back on Newsom’s assertions, calling the governor “incompetent” and “Newscum.” Trump has characterized the Los Angeles protests as violent and potentially dangerous for ICE law enforcement to carry out their duties.
The president took his defense a step further on Wednesday when he claimed he warned Newsom about using the National Guard.
“When I talked to him, he never brought it up,” Newsom told the New York Times. “He lied. He lied. On my mother and dad’s grave, I don’t mess around when I say this, he lied. Stone-cold liar. Don’t think for a second he told the truth.”
Newsom said their phone conversation last week was “incredibly cordial” and that he was in communication with Susie Wiles, the White House Chief of Staff, about cooperating. The governor said he woke up the following day to name-calling.
“Hours later, to your point, I wake up and I’m ‘Newscum’ again,” Newsom said.
“It’s the president of the United States calling someone ‘scum.’ ‘Newscum’ which is, for what it’s worth, what I think a 7th grader used to call me.”
