Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Trump says he would arrest Newsom

Trump says he would arrest Newsom

Jun 09, 2025

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THE CATCH-UP

President Donald Trump arrives on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, June 9, 2025, in Washington. The Washington Monument is seen in background.

President Donald Trump said he would arrest California Gov. Gavin Newsom as the two continue to clash following a weekend of protests over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Los Angeles. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

Tensions between California leaders and the Trump administration are still escalating after a weekend of protests over ICE raids and operations broke into chaotic scenes on Sunday with protesters blocking off a freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard.

As he returned to the White House today, Trump was asked if border czar Tom Homan should arrest California Gov. Gavin Newsom, as Newsom has dared him to do. “I would do it if I were Tom,” Trump told reporters. “I think it’s great. Gavin likes the publicity.” He added: “I like Gavin Newsom, he’s a nice guy, but he’s grossly incompetent.”

Earlier today, Newsom said in a post on X that his administration is moving forward with legal action against the Trump administration. “This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted. He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard. The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing. We’re suing him.”

The war of words: Trump said in a lengthy post on Truth Social that he “made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California.”

“If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated. The very incompetent ‘Governor,’ Gavin Newscum, and ‘Mayor,’ Karen Bass, should be saying, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR,’” Trump wrote.

In the X post announcing that California would sue Trump, Newsom also included a clip of an interview he did with Brian Tyler Cohen, in which the Democratic governor called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a “joke” and “embarrassment.” He described Hegseth, Homan and other Trump admin officials as a “band of misfits.”

Homan was also on the airwaves this morning, echoing Trump’s sharp critiques of Newsom’s handling of the situation. “I was on the ground. Governor Newsom wasn’t,” Homan said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I think President Trump made the right decision deploying the National Guard to protect life and property. That's exactly what they're doing.” Watch the 11-minute interview

On Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” Homan said Newsom had “failed” the state of California. “He waited two days of that city burning, officers being assaulted, before he made a declaration of unlawful assembly,” Homan said, adding that Newsom was “late to the game.”

Homan told Fox News that there had been “no discussion of arresting Newsom” within the Trump administration, though he reiterated his previous warning that “no one is above the law” — which yesterday prompted Newsom to dare Homan to arrest him. Watch the 7-minute interview

And Bass went on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” where she told the network that the National Guard isn’t needed right now. “It is important for people to know that, even in downtown, this is isolated to a few streets,” she said. “It looks horrible. People committed crimes. It is absolutely unacceptable. And those people that set cars on fire or did other forms of vandalism will be sought to be arrested and prosecuted. This is not the way to promote a cause like immigrant rights.”

How we got here: “Inside the Trump administration’s decision to deploy the National Guard to California,” by CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez and Betsy Klein

Meanwhile back in D.C.: Temporary security fencing was seen going up around the White House grounds this morning, POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman reports.

Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.

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HAPPENING TOMORROW: White House officials, congressional leaders and energy experts will explore the strategic choices shaping America's energy future under the Trump administration at POLITICO's Energy Summit. Key speakers include Jarrod Agen, deputy assistant to the president and executive director of the National Energy Dominance Council; Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah); Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.); Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Bob Latta (R-Ohio); Jennifer Granholm, Neil Chatterjee and more. The summit kicks off at 8 a.m. More details here … Watch live here

9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES: Senate Republicans are planning to huddle tomorrow as they try to iron out some of the trickiest parts of their “big, beautiful bill,” POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and Meredith Lee Hill report. GOP senators are expected to be briefed by committee leaders, including Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ag Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.), who have yet to release their pieces of the sprawling megabill.

Cover fire: A controversial proposal to make changes to Medicare that Republicans want to include in the megabill has support from Democrat Jeff Merkley — though the Oregon senator doesn’t want it included in the party-line package, POLITICO’s Robert King and Meredith Lee Hill report. “Still, Merkley’s statement standing up for the policy Republicans are now eyeing for their domestic policy agenda could give the GOP cover as they look to find more savings to offset costly tax cuts and other provisions.”

2. MONEY TALKS: Trump is planning to highlight the so-called “Trump Accounts” that House Republicans wrote into the sprawling reconciliation bill during a White House roundtable with business leaders today, NBC’s Garrett Haake reports. The provision in the megabill aims to deposit $1,000 into an investment account for newborns in the U.S. between Jan. 1, 2024 until Jan. 1, 2029. “CEOs attending today’s roundtable in the White House’s State Dining Room include the heads of Uber, Dell and Goldman Sachs,” who are “expected to announce billions of dollars in collective investments into Trump accounts for the children of their employees.”

3. FOR PETE’S SAKE: The Defense Department is struggling to find candidates to fill a handful of top aide-level roles for Secretary Pete Hegseth following a string of unceremonious departures, NBC’s Gordon Lubold and colleagues report. The empty posts — including chief of staff — are “normally considered prestigious and typically attract multiple qualified candidates,” but at least three people have turned down the roles, according to NBC. VP JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles are particularly keen on helping Hegseth, but haven’t yet turned up someone “either willing to work for Hegseth or who fit the bill politically.” The White House has rejected some of Hegseth’s proposed candidates, and vice versa.

4. IN THE CAN: Trump’s tariffs could soon create higher prices for traditionally low-cost grocery items. “The Trump administration’s new 50% duty on imported steel could increase store prices for items in steel cans by 9% to 15%, according to the Consumer Brands Association,” WSJ’s Bob Tita writes. “At that rate, the price of a can of vegetables costing $2 could increase by 18 cents to 30 cents. … Can manufacturers say they will continue to buy lots of imported tin-coated steel, known as tin-plate — because there isn’t enough of it made in the U.S. to supply them.”

Playbook isn’t just a newsletter — it’s a podcast, too. With new co-hosts who bring unmatched Trump world reporting and analysis, The Playbook Podcast dives deeper into the power plays shaping Washington. Get the insider edge—start listening now.

5. THE LONG TAIL OF THE DOGE: Despite Elon Musk’s formal departure from the government ranks, his Department of Government Efficiency still has backing in some corners, including the Social Security Administration. SSA head Frank Bisignano told WSJ “he plans to deploy DOGE staffers to help Social Security personnel revamp customer service to rely more heavily on technology and artificial intelligence,” WSJ’s Anne Tergesen reports. Describing himself as “fundamentally a DOGE person,” Bisignano said he wants to make “a digital-first organization,” that allows people access to “do simple tasks like replacing their Social Security card without human interaction, freeing up agency resources for other tasks.”

6. I THINK I’VE SEEN THIS FILM BEFORE: Democrats are trying a big play for Texas again. Texas Majority PAC, backed by Democratic megadonor George Soros, today is launching a multimillion-dollar “Blue Texas” initiative, “aiming to organize tens of thousands of volunteers, recruit candidates and boost turnout ahead of the 2026 midterm elections,” WSJ’s Ken Thomas reports. “Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, has devoted millions to turning Texas blue in the past and donated $2.1 million to Texas Majority in 2024 and $1 million in April, records show.” A reminder: Democrats in Texas haven’t won statewide since 1994, a Senate election since 1988, or the presidential ballot since 1980.

7. TRUMP-PROOFING BY A DIFFERENT NAME: “Ruby-red Florida is still preparing for a financial storm from DC,” by POLITICO’s Gary Fineout: “Florida’s GOP-controlled Legislature is about to wrap up work on the state’s budget with a series of significant steps designed to shore up reserves and curtail spending. The rationale given by Republican leaders includes everything from making the state’s budget resistant to a possible recession (without mentioning the economic impact of tariffs imposed by Trump) to acknowledging ‘uncertainty’ associated with Congress and potential cuts to Medicaid, food aid and federal agencies responsible for helping with emergency efforts.”

8. NOTHING IN MODERATION: “YouTube Loosens Rules Guiding the Moderation of Videos,” by NYT’s Nico Grant and Tripp Mickle: “For years, YouTube has removed videos with derogatory slurs, misinformation about Covid vaccines and election falsehoods, saying the content violated the platform’s rules. But since President Trump’s return to the White House, YouTube has encouraged its content moderators to leave up videos with content that may break the platform’s rules rather than remove them, as long as the videos are considered to be in the public interest. Those would include discussions of political, social and cultural issues.”

9. MEDIAWATCH: “Warner Bros. Discovery to Split Into Two Companies,” by NYT’s Benjamin Mullin and Lauren Hirsch: “Warner Bros. Discovery, the film and TV colossus behind HBO and CNN, announced Monday that it would cleave itself into two companies, separating its cable networks and streaming businesses. David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, will lead the company’s streaming and studios business … The cable business, which will include CNN, will be run by Gunnar Wiedenfels, the chief financial officer of Warner Bros. Discovery.”

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TALK OF THE TOWN

INSIDE THE CLUB — WaPo’s Maura Judkis has some fresh details on Executive Branch, the exclusive (and expensive) MAGA-friendly haunt for backed by Donald Trump Jr.: “They’ve hired a chef — Salvatore Brucculeri, of Carriage House, a club in Palm Beach, Florida — to create a menu of American food that will include touches of Mediterranean (think grilled fish, citrus, and olive oil) and Japanese (they’re planning to hire a sushi chef, too). There will be high-end wines and cocktails, but no cigars. The club will be open at least six days a week, with a lower-level bar, dining space, and several lounge areas, and a private VIP section and bar on the mezzanine. The decor will be intended to evoke the elegance of a grand mansion.”

PARADE PLANNING — The tanks that Trump has lined up to feature in the Army’s 250th birthday parade this Saturday are “nearly double the weight limit allowed on D.C. roads without a permit, raising concern from D.C. officials about potential damage even as the Army has said it would foot the bill for any repairs,” WaPo’s Olivia George and Michael Brice-Saddler report.

PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — “Empty desks,” by WaPo’s Robert Samuels, Lauren Lumpkin and John Harden: “How the District’s failure to curb truancy in middle schools yielded the biggest youth crime surge in a generation.”

OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the home of Jacob Heilbrunn and Sarah Despres last night in honor of Sam Tanenhaus and the publication of “Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America” ($31.22): William Ruger, Steve Clemons, Jen Balderama, Jamie Kirchick, Freddy Gray, David Frum, Melinda Haring, Ron Radosh, Ann Hulbert, Steve Sestanovich, Antonia Ferrier, Jennifer Schuessler, James Rosen, Elisabeth Bumiller, Sidney Blumenthal, Rachel Rizzo, Geoffrey Kabaservice, David Klion, Damir Marusic, Tom Mallon, Walter Olson, Mike Isikoff, Eve Conant and Kathy Bonomi.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Jonathan Voss is launching Voss Research and Strategy, a new polling firm. He previously was a partner at Lake Research Partners.

TRANSITIONS — Everett Eissenstat and Chris Lu have been appointed as the next James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professors at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Eissenstat is a partner in the public policy practice group at Squire Patton Boggs and is a Trump NEC alum. Lu previously was U.S. ambassador to the UN for management and reform under President Joe Biden and is an Obama alum.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Kelsey Kemper Valentine, CFO of the Institute for Education and associate principal of payer strategy and partnerships at Headway, and Max Dickinson, founder and president of MXD Services, on Saturday welcomed Ike Kemper Dickinson, who came in at 8 lbs and 21 inches.

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