California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) joined Fox News anchor Bret Baier for a lengthy discussion on some of the key issues being discussed during the Democrat National Convention this week and engaged in a debate about border policies.
“This theme of this convention, a lot of it is about freedom. You have criticism of Governor Tim Walz and how he handled Covid-19. Obviously, you took criticism about how you handled Covid-19. That there was a real crackdown on people’s businesses and how they dealt with things,” Baier asked Newsom on Thursday.
“Yeah,” replied the California Democrat.
“How do you say that that was freedom?” Baier pressed.
“Well, I mean, and health, wealth, and education, states like California outperform states like Florida. They laid claim to be freedom states even though they’re banning books, banning speech in the boardroom, in the classroom, banning women’s rights, the right to choose,” Newsom replied, adding:
I mean, you want to compare and contrast — pretty easy. We believe in bodily autonomy. We believe in the freedom to love, freedom to go to school without fear of being gunned down. We care more about our children than the National Rifle Association.
I’ll take this debate head on any day of the week on freedom. And don’t forget, I was doing ads a couple years ago on this saying, how in the hell are we losing the debate on freedom?
And with respect during Covid, Donald Trump himself was out there promoting a lot of these policies, supporting this policy. I don’t think that. I know that because I —
“He was not supporting going after people and having neighbors snitch on neighbors,” Baier added as Newsom protested that everyone faced a lot of unknowns during the early days of the pandemic.
Baier then shifted the conversation, noting, “The Republicans are going to focus on immigration. You know this, immigration and the border.”
“San Diego — San Diego becomes the latest hot spot in the border crisis. The percent of change increase in California, it’s dropping in the Texas sectors. It’s up in San Diego of illegal immigrants. The flow of illegal immigrants — how many have come over under this administration, Biden-Harris,” Baier added. “It is a major, major issue for a lot of America.”
Newsom replied, “Well, it’s a major issue for me is we had a chance to do something substantive by adding 1,500 new border agents, 4,300 new asylum officers, 1,000 or 100 new judges, $650 million for the border wall and Donald Trump killed it, because he wanted it as a campaign issue, he wanted to demagogue it.”
“I don’t disagree with you. I’m the border state governor with the largest land port in the western hemisphere. I was just down there again last week in cartel tunnels, not just above, around the walls. put 394 National Guard men and women on the border to address the issue of fentanyl,” Newsom concluded.
“Why is it not working?” Baier pressed.
“It has been working. California,” Newsom shot back as Baier interjected, “It’s clearly not. I mean –”
Newsom cut in, “You guys haven’t been running screaming headlines. Most of the last four years, California has done our best to put a lid on this. But it’s a federal responsibility, federal framework, and since the executive order, border crossings are down below where they were during the Trump administration. I hope someone here would give a little grace to the accomplishments of the Biden administration.”
“We’ve done that. We’ve talked about the lowering numbers, but if you look at where they were,” Baier replied as Newsom interjected, “Oh, yes!”
“Three years ago, it’s still up significantly. And let me — let me ask you this last question,” Baier said as they spoke over each other and Newsom said, “Yeah, and under Trump, it was higher than under the Obama administration.”
Baier concluded by asking, “And we appreciate you coming on and taking tough questions. Is there any little part of you that wants to be on that stage tonight accepting this nomination?”
Newsom replied after a quick exchange, “No, no, I don’t need the stress in my life. I like — I like my kids. I like spending time with them. I was able to bring them to school — first day of school on Monday. That’s — that’s the joy that I’m experiencing, not just the joy that’s expressed in the convention.”
“I’ll be in the front row. You’ll see me applauding, a friend of almost 30 years. We knew each other before we were both in politics.It’s a point of deep pride and what an honor it is to be here as governor, representing a great state, despite all our challenges,” Newsom said as the interview wound down.
Watch the clip above via Fox News.
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
Local News
