Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said Sunday that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was threatening “to commit criminal tax evasion,” quoting a story from Breitbart News that noted Newsom’s threat Friday.
As Breitbart News reported Friday, Newsom threatened to stop federal taxes from being paid by Californians in response to a threat from President Donald Trump to cut of federal funding to the state. That threat, in turn, came after Newsom defied Trump’s executive orders on transgenderism in sports by allowing biological males to compete against females at the high school level. The Trump administration has also said it would claw back federal funds to California in other areas, notably high-speed rail, which has wasted billions of dollars. There were reports Friday that suggested that Trump is looking for even more funding to withhold.
Bessent noted that Newsom would be encouraging private businesses and state officials to break the law. He suggested instead that Newsom should cut taxes and “allow families to keep more of their hard-earned money.”
Newsom is fighting against Trump on almost every front, while also seeking $40 billion in aid for fire relief. Despite huge deficits, Newsom approved $50 million in spending for legal fights against the administration.
Bessent’s warning also came as Trump federalized 2,000 California National Guard troops and deployed them to stop rioting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in Los Angeles.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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