(Headline USA) Calif. Gov Gavin Newsom called for a special legislative session this week so California Democrats can plan their resistance to the incoming Trump administration.
Newsom made the demand just one day after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race.
“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack—and we won’t sit idle,” Newsom, who wants to be president himself, said in a statement. “California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond. We are prepared to fight in the courts, and we will do everything necessary to ensure Californians have the support and resources they need to thrive.”
Specifically, Newsom called on the California legislature to provide the state Attorney General’s office with additional funding so it can launch a barrage of federal challenges against various policies the Trump administration plans to implement.
The Attorney General will also need to “Trump-proof” California’s laws on abortion, LGBT protections, and environmental regulations, Newsom’s office claimed.
California Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher called Newsom’s demands a “shameless political stunt.”
“There will not be a single policy implemented in this special session that couldn’t be addressed when the legislature reconvenes in January,” he added. “If Newsom is so eager to set up a 2028 presidential run, he’d be much better served by fixing the crime, homelessness, and high costs that will doom his campaign.”
President-elect Donald Trump also blasted Newsom, pointing out that millions of Californians have fled the state in recent years due to the policies Newsom wants to defend.
“He is using the term ‘Trump-Proof’ as a way of stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again,’ but I just overwhelmingly won the Election,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday. “People are being forced to leave due to his, & other’s, INSANE POLICY DECISIONS.”
