SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Gavin Newsom\u2019s office said the California governor was blocked by the Trump administration from speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Newsom had been asked to speak at an event at USA House, an American pavilion at the annual gathering of world leaders. Newsom\u2019s office staff said they were told that a \u201cvenue-level decision\u201d was made to \u201cnot include an elected U.S. official\u201d in the programming. The fireside chat was scheduled for Wednesday evening in Davos, which is nine hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, with media outlet Fortune.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow weak and pathetic do you have to be to be this scared of a fireside chat?\u201d Newsom wrote on the social media site X.<\/p>\n
Newsom\u2019s office said the governor had planned to respond to the speech President Trump had made in Davos just hours before. During that address, Trump said he wanted to \u201cget Greenland, including right, title and ownership,\u201d<\/a> while insisting he would not use force to do so. Trump used his remarks at the World Economic Forum to repeatedly criticize European allies and to suggest that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should not interfere with U.S. expansionist ambitions.<\/p>\n After Newsom was disinvited to the speaking event hosted by USA House, his office said the governor was offered a consolation, to attend a \u201cVIP nightcap\u201d reception to have a drink and speak off the record instead, the governor\u2019s office said. Newsom declined.<\/p>\n A White House spokesperson declined to say whether Newsom was blocked by the Trump administration from speaking at the event, instead providing a statement attacking Newsom and using a derogatory name for the governor.<\/p>\n \u201cNo 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,\u201d White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement.<\/p>\n The latest squabble between the two leaders came to light after Trump called out Newsom during his speech at the World Economic Forum, whose stated mission is to encourage \u201cforward-looking discussions to address global issues and set priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n The California governor was listening to the president\u2019s remarks, and at one point a camera showed him smiling and appearing to chuckle when Trump mentioned him by name.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to help the people in California. We want to have no crime,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI know Gavin was here. I used to get along so great with Gavin when I was president. Gavin is a good guy. And if you needed it, I would do it in a heartbeat.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump quipped, \u201cif I were a Democrat governor, or whatever, I would call up Trump, I\u2019d say, \u2018Come on in. Make us look good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Following Trump\u2019s remarks, Newsom told a CNN reporter that he thought the president\u2019s speech was \u201cremarkably boring.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t anything new about that speech for the American audience,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also took a shot at Newsom while speaking in Davos, criticizing his economic policies and saying the Trump administration would be coming to California to \u201ccrack down on waste, fraud and abuse.\u201d Bessent appeared to acknowledge that he knew Newsom\u2019s speech scheduled afterward had been canceled.<\/p>\n \u201cI was told he was asked to give a speech on his signature policies, but he\u2019s not speaking because what have his economic policies brought? Outward migration from California, a gigantic budget deficit, the largest homeless population in America, and the poor folks in the Palisades who had their homes burned down,\u201d Bessent said. \u201cHe is too smug, too self-absorbed and too economically illiterate to know anything.\u201d<\/p>\n The incident comes as Newsom, who is weighing a 2028 presidential run, has increasingly positioned California as a counterweight to Washington. This week in Davos, the Democratic governor publicly rebuked world leaders<\/a> for their \u201ccomplicity\u201d for failing to confront Trump\u2019s aggressive posture on issues such as trade and a potential takeover of Greenland. <\/p>\n Speaking to reporters there, Newsom urged European and other global leaders to \u201cstand tall and firm\u201d and to \u201chave a backbone,\u201d bemoaning that too many have been \u201crolling over\u201d in the face of Trump\u2019s actions and rhetoric.<\/p>\n