Fox News host Sean Hannity likely stunned his viewers during Tuesday evening’s broadcast when he made a shocking statement about California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
As the show returned from a commercial break, Hannity announced a “Fox News alert” before revealing that the Democratic governor had just sent him a text message.
“Gov. Newsom just texted me and was asking me whether or not we will be taking some of his press conference at the bottom of the hour,” the host said. “That’ll be about three minutes from right now as he’s slated to address the nation.”
Hannity then added, “I will fact-check it in real time.”
During his speech, Newsom called President Donald Trump’s actions to intervene in the rioting that began with attacks on federal ICE agents an “assault on democracy,” while claiming, falsely, that the president’s decision to call up California National Guard soldiers and send Marines to L.A. to protect federal property was illegal.
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A federal judge on Tuesday refused Newsom’s emergency request to block Trump’s deployment of troops to the city, instructing both parties to submit more arguments by next week.
Newsom also said that Trump is “pushing mass deportations indiscriminately,” though the president literally ran on the issue ahead of last November’s trouncing of now former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“On Saturday morning, when federal agents jumped out of an unmarked van near a Home Depot parking lot, they began grabbing people. A deliberate targeting of a heavily Latino suburb,” Newsom said. “A U.S. citizen, nine months pregnant, was arrested. A four-year-old girl. Taken. Families separated.”
The governor stated that the initial protests following the deportations were not unusual for the city. However, he said the situation escalated beyond the capacity of local, county, and state law enforcement to manage.
“What then ensued was a use of tear gas, flashbang grenades, rubber bullets. Federal agents detaining people and undermining their due process rights,” Newsom said.
The Democratic governor, however, did not deny that the protests had turned violent, pointing to assaults on police officers, businesses being looted, and vandalism. So far, more than 220 people have been arrested, and Newsom said he expects more arrests to follow.
But then he claimed that somehow Trump was to blame because deploying the military “inflamed” the situation.
“These are the men and women trained for foreign combat, not domestic law enforcement,” Newsom said, though in fact, the military police units are trained in conflict resolution and de-escalation as well as combat.
“Democracy is under assault before our eyes,” Newsom added.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman on Tuesday broke with a majority of fellow Democrats over the characterization of the rioting in L.A.
Fetterman took to social media to criticize Democrats for prioritizing illegal aliens over federal immigration officials who enforce the law against those in the U.S. illegally, particularly those convicted of serious crimes.
In an X post that contained photos of violence stemming from riots in Los Angeles that have rocked the city for days, the Pennsylvania freshman senator stressed that he supported peaceful protests, not attacks on law enforcement and property destruction.
“I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration—but this is not that,” Fetterman wrote. “This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.”