California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) defended spending $50 million to fight President Donald Trump’s policies while also asking the federal government for $40 billion in fire relief, saying it was necessary to defend state programs.
Newsom spoke to reporters after launching a website devoted to “Accountability” in the state’s homeless spending — though, as Breitbart News pointed out in a question, the website does not actually include the amount being spent.
Breitbart News also asked Newsom whether it was appropriate “to sign $50 million in spending to fight the Trump administration while also asking the Federal government for $40 billion in fire relief aid.”
Newsom said he would not have phrased the question that way, and said that California wished to spend an additional $25 million on lawsuits to “protect and preserve” its policies, based on its experience with the first Trump administration, when California filed one lawsuit after another against the White House.
California expected that experience to be “replicated.” He cited the example of high-speed rail, where Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy had announced an audit of the state’s spending on the project (which includes billions of dollars in federal funds). “We were prescient in that respect,” Newsom said, “in terms of putting those funds up in anticipation of efforts happening in the second Trump administration that happened in the first Trump administration.”
As for the $25 million for legal defenses for illegal aliens, Newsom said, “that is not specific to Trump” but was rather about “protecting people’s rights” .and paying non-profit organizations and other groups that help undocumented Californians “to address their anxieties and fears.”
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 The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. 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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