Breaking News from Pod Save America - BREAKING: Gavin Newsom Deals MAJOR BLOW To Trump

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Gavin Newsom joins Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor to discuss Donald Trump, Republican gerrymandering and suing Fox News for defamation. Photos courtesy of AP Photo Archive Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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You recovered? Are you guys all right? Look, it's much harder asking the questions. I know, but it's easier. I thought it was important to talk about that sixth grade report card. But, yeah, I mean, brother, I'm, you know, I'm impressed that you've made up for it. But you're in your parents, those questions, those were tough. Thank you. You're putting us out of business.

No, taken over. Really? That's it. But I did take over the studio. Thank you for the, thank you for the audio feed and a video feed. Few quick News of the Day questions. So we still have National Guard in Los Angeles. We got over 4,000.

We still got the Marines. Almost 1,000. I know you tried to sue to get them out of here. And, you know, on appeal, we lost. So, like, what is next in terms of what you can. can do as governor of a state, obviously the federal government has a say here too, to help LA, help California sort of return to normal and sort of like protect some of the people who are just getting rounded up. Well, I think for folks listening, just to put in perspective,

you got close to just shy of 5,000 military in the streets of American city. That said, most of them are armories are on the periphery of the streets of American city. A vast majority are doing nothing. They're costing the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a week doing nothing. Those that are deployed are going out and cruel ways out on horseback with American flags, with military equipment, with helicopters running above, in just shows of force and vulgarity and cruelty, not even making arrests. So they're ponds in a political game.

It's theater, period, full stop. It's not about public safety, quite the contrary. But it's also about pushing the boundaries of what's possible, and that goes to your point around the lawsuits. It was inevitable we would sue. We won in lower court. We lost the court of appeals. It was a narrow decision. And so we're back in the lower courts.

We have discovery. We're doing depositions against member of the administration and with the Federal Guard. And my hunch is that this is about to end. that they did a 60-day operation, they're going to have to start the process of drawing down. You've got morale issues that are off the charts. You've got people that are not home with their kids. You've got teachers that are not teaching.

You've got guard that literally are out there doing work in our forests and addressing the issues of wildfires that were already assigned. Now have been pulled off those critical functions. Folks that were doing interdiction and counter-narcotics work for us, that were directed by me as it relates to fentanyl interdiction around the border that are no longer doing that. And it's, again, costing the taxpayers now well north of $150 million. So I'm hopeful that we're near the end of this, that Trump got everything he wanted out of it, and we can move on.

Challenge now is this was a national order. So this is not about L.A. This is a preview of things to come. Every city in America, get ready for this. and their ability to fortify their ranks now with this new big beautiful bill to have the largest national private army in the world, arguably, larger than the entire Israeli military, now under the jurisdiction in the hands of Stephen Miller, presumably, and Donald Trump.

I should alarm every damn person. So Greg Abbott, Governor Texas, Donald Trump, are talking about redistricting, gerrymandering before the next, before the midterms in 2020. to pick up five extra seats in Texas. Donald Trump said, yeah, I'm going to pick up five extra seats. No big deal. Just need 12,000 new votes.

Just need to, you know, what do you got? You said two can play at this game. You know, in Texas's case, Abbott can just call a special session and do this. We have, as part of the state constitution, this independent redistricting commission, you know, it was a ballot initiative, voters voted on it, it's in the constitution. So how do you play at this game? Well, we try to do it right. I think there should be a national framework for independent redistricting period full stop.

I mean, in gerrymandering, and let's be fair, we've seen this weaponized by both parties for decades. But these guys, this is a whole other level of weaponization coming from the right. And what Trump did today is the ultimate tell. They feel they're on the ropes. They feel they're behind. They feel they're vulnerable with the big beautiful bill. They feel like the momentum is shifting away from them. and it's Speaker Jeffries, it's not Speaker Johnson.

So on that basis, they got to rig the game. You've got to change the game because you can't win by the existing rules. So he goes in and talks to these guys that should be focused on flood preparedness, should be focused on restoring NOAA and the weather investments that they need to make and the resiliency efforts to talk about getting FEMA back on track and how little accountability with Christy Nome and some of those early decisions that were made or not made. Instead, they're using that special session to weaponize for, in the next election. And that's just scared the hell out of everybody because these guys are playing

by a different set of rules. And so from my perspective, if we're going to play fair in a world that is wholly unfair, we may have the higher moral ground, but the ground is shifting from underneath us. And I think we have to wake up to that reality. And I'm talking to members of my legislature, whatever are alternatives. We can do a special session. I can call for one today, if I chose to. We can then put something on the ballot, and I could call a special election. We could change the Constitution with the consent of the voters. And I think we would win that. I think people understand what's at stake in California.

I think we'd come out in record numbers. I think it would be extraordinary success. That's a clean way of doing it. It'd be a very short window because you've got to come back with the maps and you've got to change all this and prepare for the ballots that are around the corner next year. Or you can look at other avenues which we are exploring, which are pathways with the legislature to do urgency clauses with 2,000. third's the legislature in both of our houses, to move forward with legislative redistricting

in between the constitutional construct, which is every census, the independent redistricting commission, does a new map. But it's silent about what happens in between. So it's a novel legal question, and it's being explored. Is there like a mutually assured destruction strategy here where, like, they maybe won't act in Texas if they think California will respond in time? Look, I've been full disclosure talking to some of the legislative leaders up there, and they're very grateful that we're at least asserting ourselves, and they think that their colleagues need to hear this. And I'm told to this morning, I had a couple phone calls,

that apparently were very much in their heads because of the sort of counter threat that they were talking about California moving. And look, I'm just, I hope people understand. I'm on the other side of all this right now, meaning I'm just, I'm not the same guy I was. And that's not to say it was ever timid. gosh, you could say a lot of things about me. But I've had a history of trying to be out on the leading and cutting edge of a lot of things.

But I've said this to you guys before. After I came out of that recall, I felt things changed. But I'll be honest, coming out of the ashes of these fires and what we were dealing with with Trump and Musk and the miss and just total disinformation, we had you and I talked on this podcast in the middle of that. That was just a different thing. And now to see the National Guard being federalized to see the military, the military, mass folks on our streets. It's a different, I'm in a different head space. It's existential. I get it with clarity and I'm going to be held to account and that's me holding myself to

higher level accountability. So while I want to maintain my moral authority, it's time to exercise our formal authority and we have it. We're the largest state in this country, the fourth large economy in the world, larger than 21 state populations combined. We dominate in every key industry. We're well-resourced. We just balanced our budget. We have reserves. We have liquidity. We have a fierce AG.

We have a legislature that's focused. We're going to meet the moment. You filed a $787 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Should have been $7.88. Is that your question? Okay, I'm just asking. Why are you laughing? For lizards you don't know, you're accusing them of falsely claiming.

you lied about a call with Trump during the National Guard deployment. Your team says you'll drop the suit if they retract and apologize on air. She's wondering kind of what your desired endgame is here. And do you think Kamala Harris should also sue Fox now that we've seen the way Fox edited Donald Trump's answer about the Epstein files? We know that he was very upset about CBS editing an interview with her. Maybe she should file suit like he did. That's a hell of a question. with that i'm not i'm not trying to be political about the the latter part of that question but

i will i will review those tapes and i will make a more educated assessment of the validity of those edits um look it's the exact same number as the dominion case yeah but fox didn't learn their lesson they knowingly omitted facts they edited out those facts they lied they knowingly lied and they weaponized that lie and it was heard around the world i had good friends of mine, no bullshit. This is why I did it. Like people saying, why'd you lie about the call? I said, what are you talking about? They said, I've seen all my social media. I said, what are you talking about? Well, Jesse Waters, I was like, what?

And John, I mean, what the hell's going on? And I've been, look, I'm 24-7 on Fox. I'm there new Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Cly. I don't know what that I am. And so I've got a pain threshold that's up there with the best, but I'm not into just overt lies. It said on the Chiron, Gavin is lying. It wasn't, you couldn't get more clear. Yeah. And so these lawyers came to me, the same folks that did Sandy Hook. They're not screwing around.

They said, this is cut and dry. I said, I don't want, come on, defamation. And they're like, no, this has gotten. And I said, look, I want an apology. I'm not going to do, I mean, I'm like, I want apology. Just the exact same amount of time they put extending the lie, period. I'm sick and tired of this. You know, illusion rules, facts don't matter.

Fine. Your propaganda network, I get it. You're not a news organization. and you act like your news organization. In some cases, you need to be held to account. You got your guy that you're celebrating every single day, to your point, that's suing everybody. Everyone's bending on their damn knee. And they're settling here, settling there.

They're doing it for purely, you know, crony capital, list of reasons. I mean, we know why. And so, you know what? I'm sick of it. And if they're going to play that game, goes to your previous question. We've got to step up, and they got to be held to account, period, full stop. So I'm looking forward to any deposition. I'm looking forward, Fox, to Discovery.

I'm looking forward to all your emails, all the text messages, Jesse. I'm looking forward to all of it, to all the senior producers, to the Murdoch family. I'm looking for it. I got all the time in the world, and I'll be spending it in Delaware where we're doing this case. Or you apologize. Do the right thing. That's hard for you, I know, but do the right thing. You know, fair and balanced, really? So again, this is a guy goes on Fox.

There's no problem engaging these guys. Respect, opposition, and critique, but don't lie. I'm sure Jesse Waters doesn't put anything in text or email. No, no. It would be embarrassing or he'd regret it to come out in discovery. I'd expect to see an apology. Yeah, I thought. Otherwise, we're going to have some fun with all of the discovery.

It feels good. Final question. When Vice President Vance came to Disneyland last week, you made sure to remind him that the state he was vacationing in was also the one that his administration is targeting with these brutal deportation raids. But he did give us a gift while he was here. Did you get to see the, video of JD vans running at Disneyland?

God, I mean, I'm still recovering from Jose Padilla, but no, I'm, forgive me. I, no, I did not see him running. Oh, lucky for you. I swear I didn't. I just go get up. I mean, that's just strength, personified. Security. I mean, that's masculine.

That's masculine. First time he's ever run? Does that, is that the jog of a man who feels confident in his position at the Whitehouse? It's, you know, Arnold would say it is a gully man. You challenge him to a race? Listen to me. Now, I'd give you later. I challenge you to a foot race.

Yeah, no, now I will foot race. Yeah, I think you should. It was, I know we challenged him to debate. Look, man, I honestly, he's a father. So I didn't, you know, I just like, and I respect that. And he's a husband, and I feel for his family. I'm dead serious about that. But this, what he is doing to families and the parents in our state, the cruelty.

and to come in and mock a U.S. senator who he served with, whose name is Alex Padilla, and call him Jose intentionally, I find him to be a disgrace. And with all due respect, you know, J.D. Vance, I hope he runs the hell out of the White House and takes a much longer sabbatical in time with his kids. we do not need four more years of JD, and we sure as hell don't need eight years of them. Agreed. Some breaking news to our previous question. AP, Trump administration says it is ending deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles.

Look at that. Look at that. We're watching. You willed it into being. For the record, roll back the tape. Okay. Wow, this is great. See, this is why you guys, you took my phone.

It was like a national security operation. I haven't looked at the news in this whole time. I got nothing. I got nothing. How many slacks in our team? We're like, ask him about this. Because we're back in court doing the depositions. And it goes back to exactly what I was just saying about Fox.

These guys, they stress test the system. They play it out to a point. And then they pull back. And this is exactly what that 2000 represents. That's the first phase of the deployment. which was that first clock in terms of the time. And the consequences of extending that would have created all kinds of additional legal questions and theories that would have been explored. Exactly what I expected.

This whole thing is weakness. Weakness, masquerading and strength. I'll continue to say it. Weakness. That's all Trump is. Weakness. Every act, every bloviation, every assertion, 50 days, Putin. I'm tough. 50 days. The ruble goes up, not down, because you got 50 days, wink, wink.

Boy, I'm a tough guy, 100%. Don't mess with him, Congress, because you would have actually heard him. I don't want to hurt him. Putin, I'm getting tough. He bullshit, I mean, weakness. That's all he's, it's what he sells. Governor, thanks for answering some of our questions, as always. Thanks for showing the video. Ryan Reynolds here for MintMobil. The message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month.

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