Newsom says Trump administration pressured cancellation of Davos interview
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is accusing the Trump administration of pressuring a planned interview between a U.S. media company and the Democratic governor to be cancelled. The Trump administration has fired back at those claims.
President Trump walked back his threats of military force in Greenland during his speech to world leaders at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. That was the global headline, but the president later mentioned Newsom by name in his speech.
"We're going to help the people in California. We want to have no crime," Trump said. "I know Gavin was here. I used to get along so great with Gavin when I was president."
Newsom was in the audience for the moment, and he was caught on camera shaking his head in response to some of the president's speech.
"He was never going to invade Greenland. It was never real," Newsom said. "So that was always a fade. So he said we should negotiate. Well, everyone here has been saying we should negotiate for a year."
Newsom later announced he was denied an opportunity to use the USA House, an official U.S venue in Davos, for an interview with Fortune magazine. His press office tweeted that the interview was cancelled "under pressure from the White House and State Department."
A White House spokesperson, Anna Kelly, did not confirm nor deny Newsom's claims. Instead, Kelly issued a statement to CBS News Sacramento saying, "No one in Davos knows who third-rate governor Newscum is or why he is frolicking around Switzerland instead of fixing the many problems he created in California."
Claremont McKenna political science professor Jack Pitney said Mr. Trump's focus on Newsom is not policy-related.
"A lot of world leaders know his name now," Pitney said. "I don't think he's playing multi-dimensional chess, here. It's just that Newsom got under his skin."
Newsom will have more eyeballs on him on Thursday when he takes the stage at Davos for a speech expected to be critical of the Trump administration.
