California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the media for what he described as overly deferential coverage of President Donald Trump, characterizing reporters in Oval Office press briefings as “sycophants.”
The Democratic governor — widely seen as a potential contender for the 2028 presidential race — made the remarks during a Sunday interview with progressive commentator Jack Cocchiarella.
Cocchiarella pressed Newsom on what he framed as “hesitancy” within the White House press corps to scrutinize certain subjects: namely, the 80-year-old president’s health.
“You see these press conferences in the Oval Office,” the governor replied. “You maybe have one or two reasonable reporters. They ask a question; there's no chance for a follow-up. And then it’s seven sycophants from news outlets.”
Newsom followed by delivering an impression of the sort of softball question he said the president often receives.
“Mr. Trump, this is, you’re such an extraordinary man, you look quite handsome, you look like you’ve lost weight,” he said. “Is that because you are negotiating on Medicaid Part D with GLP-1s because of your extraordinary work to get pharmaceutical prices down? Tell us more, Mr. President.”
“It’s an embarrassment, and so what we have to do is call it out,” Newsom said, adding: “It’s not what is said, it’s what’s not said.”
Since returning to office, Trump has made a series of changes to the White House press pool, the small group of reporters assigned to cover the president in restricted settings such as Oval Office press conferences.
In February, the White House said it would choose which outlets join the press pool, taking that power away from the White House Correspondents’ Association, which had long handled the process. The administration also restricted access for some wire services, including Reuters and The Associated Press, while creating a “new media” seat in the briefing room for independent journalists, podcasters and social media influencers.
At the same time, the White House has launched a “media offenders” website meant to publicly criticize outlets it says show bias.
Newsom condemned the list, arguing that those included are cast as “enemies of the state” simply for “believing in journalism.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the governor returned to the subject of Trump’s health, saying he once had a “chilling conversation” with the president where Trump repeated himself several times.
He also argued that the Republican president is “graded on a new curve” because of his predecessor, Joe Biden, who faced repeated questions about his mental and physical health.
Last month, New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan — who just published a new book on Trump — said he takes more questions than Biden did.
“Let me be clear about something: He answers more questions than Joe Biden,” Swan said. “He’s more available. There are reporters asking him questions when they’re in the pool, there’s no question about that.”
Trump has repeatedly sparred with Newsom, whom he derisively calls “Newscum.” He’s labeled him “grossly incompetent” and a “cognitive mess.” He’s also claimed, without evidence, that California Democrats have cheated in recent elections.
When reached for comment by The Independent, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said: “Gavin Newscum is the worst governor in America, and he also may be the dumbest.”
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