California Governor Gavin Newsom sued President Donald Trump two weeks ago for what he characterized as an “illegal and unnecessary takeover of a CalGuard unit” — and deploying nearly 5,000 troops to Los Angeles — where thousands were protesting the Trump administration’s migrant removal tactics and raids by masked ICE law enforcement officers.
Newsom said he didn’t request the troops — a request Trump had previously said would be a necessary precondition for federal action (see below) — and that the unrest in the city was insufficient to justify Trump’s decision.
Trump in 2020: We have to go by the laws. We can’t move in the National Guard. I can call insurrection but there’s no reason to ever do that, even in a Portland case.
We can’t call in the National Guard unless we’re requested by a governor. pic.twitter.com/0sTAa9CiCX— Acyn (@Acyn) June 9, 2025
Today on social media, Newsom accused Trump of “pulling our troops from fighting wildfires and combatting fentanyl trafficking to use them as props for his cable TV obsession.”
The Governor called on the President to “End the political theater and return control of our National Guard to California, @realDonaldTrump.”
Trump is pulling our troops from fighting wildfires and combatting fentanyl trafficking to use them as props for his cable TV obsession.
End the political theater and return control of our National Guard to California, @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/POReXnRmTC
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) June 25, 2025
Note: The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that presiding Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco — who last week saw a panel at the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals strike down his restraining order to return control of the National Guard to California — told the federal government to respond to California’s request for “a cache of documents, photos, internal reports and other evidence detailing the activities of the military in Southern California.”
On Wednesday morning the DOJ met Breyer’s deadline to respond, filing a rejoinder in opposition that called the request onerous.
To help support his case that the CalGuard troops are not just unnecessary in LA but critical elsewhere, Newsom is amplifying an exclusive article in the San Francisco Chronicle titled, “Nearly one-third of National Guard drug enforcement team were pulled to go to L.A.”
Newsom added: “President Trump’s unlawful military presence in Los Angeles is pulling away a third of our @TheCalGuard counter-narcotic force. His unnecessary takeover is actively making Americans less safe.”
Asserting that the Trump administration’s reluctance to deliver emergency funds for California is also putting its residents in danger, Newsom said: “I will not let Trump turn a blind eye to the safety of Californians and stand in the way of protecting this state from catastrophic wildfires. California is making $135M in wildfire prevention grants available to protect our communities this wildfire season.”